#106: State of Crypto 2025, How Cities & Businesses Grow and Decay, Lore of Taylor Sheridan

Hi All!

We are pleased to welcome you to this week's edition of Undiscovered, a newsletter with exclusive resources and insights expanding from the material found on our main site - becketu.com.

This week, we will take a look at the lore and business prowess of the writer behind Sicario, a handful of Perplexity prompts to make you more effective at work, key takeaways from looking at the last year within crypto, and more.

Let's dive in:

Karpathy's Most Recommended Physics Book

Andrej Karpathy recently revealed one of his most recommended books for learning physics - Scale by Geoffrey West. It analyzes the universal laws of growth, innovation, sustainability, and the pace of life in organisms, cities, economies, and companies. He discussed it while being featured on the Dwarkesh Podcast, after briefly mentioning the importance of having a background in physics:

How to Use AI at Work - from Perplexity

Perplexity just released a 42-page PDF on how to use their tools to get more done at work. It's split into three main sections: blocking distractions, scaling yourself, and how to get results.

What I appreciate most about this PDF is that each section is easy to digest, typically running a little over 10 pages, yet packed with useful prompts. For instance, some of my favorite prompts are found in the Practical Applications part of the Scale Yourself chapter:

The Lore of Taylor Sheridan

Taylor Sheridan has quickly become one of the most interesting writers to me after reading this excellent overview on his career from Trung Phan. For the uninitiated, Sheridan is the writer of Sicario, Yellowstone, Hell or High Water, but he didn't start his writing career until he was 40 years old.

Before that, he had been an actor in Hollywood for over 15 years, but struggled to break through to the top levels. With a baby on the way, writing became the most promising way to make money. That pressure is what helped bring Sicario to life, and when it became a hit, he secured opportunities to make Hell or High Water and Wind River.

He parlayed his $200m deal with Paramount into buying the 6666 Ranch in Texas for $350 million. In a stroke of business genius, he leased land from his ranch along with the horses back to Paramount for filming. In most recent news, he left Paramount for NBCUniversal in a deal worth up to $1 billion.

If you're looking to learn more about Sheridan, we recommend listening to the official Yellowstone podcast episode "Building a Universe" as well as Along for the Ride with Andrea Fappani where she and Taylor discuss his career and passion for the western lifestyle.

Three Years of *Good* Therapy in 60 Seconds

Aaron Stupple, the author of The Sovereign Child, recently shared a video that contained "three years of therapy in 60 seconds". Here are all the takeaways:

• "Your parents did their best but also kind of f*cked you up, but at the end of the day, you have to deal with it."
• "No one is coming to save you. No magical mentor. No secret billionaire uncle. Not even f*cking batman. It's just you."
• "Boundaries. That doesn't mean blocking someone on Instagram. Say it with me...NO! Doesn't have to be mean or rude."
• "Stop chasing people who treat you like an option."
• "Self care isn't bath bombs and face masks. It's getting eight hours of sleep and eating something that grew from the ground and answering that email before it ruins your week."
• "Feelings don't kill you. Crying won't kill you. Screaming into a pillow won't kill you. But ignoring your feelings will destroy you from the inside out."
• "You don't find yourself, you build yourself. Some days you're leveling up, others you're starting at square one."
• "Most of the time, it's not that deep. You're not cursed, you're just tired, thirsty, or maybe overdue for a snack."

State of Crypto 2025

A16ZCrypto recently dropped their State of Crypto 2025 article, and the key takeaways are enlightening. The main theme is that this was the year where crypto finally became mainstream. There has been dramatic institutional adoptions, clear regulations, and stablecoins have started to rival giants like Visa in transaction volume. There are more than 40 million monthly active users and a surge in mobile wallet activity, especially in emerging markets where economic instability fuels demand.

U.S. policy has shifted rapidly from hostile to supportive, catalyzing both fintech and banking giants to launch consumer crypto services while paving the way for deeper market participation. Decentralized finance, the tokenization of real-world assets, and physical infrastructure networks are reshaping existing systems. This paired with advancements in AI mean that new channels are opening for automated payment rails, decentralized identity, and new applications that may soon drive a $30 trillion autonomous agent economy.

But how do you plan ahead with all this information? This shift means mainstream businesses, investors, and creators should actively explore blockchain integration and on-chain financial tools now, before these mechanisms become baseline infrastructures. With stronger networks, favorable regulations, and deep institutional buy-in, the time to explore and adapt is now.

P.S Can you please respond to this email and bring it into your 'primary' inbox? You can say 'Hi!', tell us the last book you read recently, or what your favorite resource was from above.
​
It would also help if you add us as a contact on your mailing list, with a visual tutorial below:

We appreciate any feedback you are able to provide here. What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Feel free to reach out to us on Instagram and give us a follow there, tag your friends on our posts, and please forward this newsletter along to anyone else who would enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Becket U is an Amazon Associate and purchases through Amazon links may earn a small affiliate commission, but the price is the same for you. We only recommend books we love and think you would love, too.

Always wishing you the best,

J.B.