#109: Holiday Gift Guide, Default State of Amusement, $4,000 Marketing Masterclass for Free

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 a 'holiday gift guide for tech people with taste', the default mental state for achieving anything, a Twitter thread potentially worth thousands of dollars, and more.

Let's dive in:

Holiday Guide for Tech People with Taste

​Lenny Rachitsky recently shared his 'holiday gift guide for tech people with taste' and it's an absolute goldmine. Some items are things you or someone close might actually need, and even if you feel like you have it all, there’s something here for everyone. Below are a few of my favorites:

• ​Coyuchi 100% organic cotton sheets: Love anything that is 100% cotton, and for something you spend a third of your time in each day, it makes sense to spend a little extra here.
• ​Matic Robot: Widely regarded as the best floor cleaner (from Wirecutter, Wired, Gizmodo, and The Verge). Reported that due to tariffs they will be increasing their price $150 starting in December, so be sure to hop on this one quickly.
• ​Angels Horn Vinyl Record Player: Includes built-in speakers and Bluetooth! Looks like an easy and versatile way to finally enjoy those performative records I've been collecting.
• ​Loog Piano: The piano made to learn piano. Designed for kids, but looks like it would be the perfect for adult learners too.
• ​Organic Floppy Brown Bear Teddy: Made from certified organic cotton and pure organic wool, this teddy bear is hand-crafted in the mountains of Germany by Senger, a small family business.
• ​ModRetro Chromatic: I miss my Game Boy Color. This modern remake is able to play Game Boy®, Game Boy Color®, and ModRetro cartridges. Has responsive D-pad controls, tactile buttons, and perfect input latency. Sure to bring back all the feels.
• ​Aranet CO2 Monitor: Did you know high CO₂ impairs your cognition? Research shows that brain function decreases by 15% when CO₂ levels are over 1,000 ppm, and by over 50% above 1,400 ppm. I'll be copping!
• ​hoog Amber Book Light: I'm a big nighttime reader and I've always found myself struggling to turn the light on and off on my nightstand, as silly as it sounds. This looks like it'll be the perfect solution to my nightstand conundrum.
• ​Function Health: Will be getting one of these for a loved one this season. Great deal right now at $365/yr and good health is priceless.

4-Figure Marketing Masterclass for Free

Retired copywriter Jim Clair shared his 'masterclass' when it comes to persuasion and sales. Described by pspfrench, "I was about to buy a 4-figure copywriting course when I saw this tweet. But instead I read Jim’s masterclass book list from start to finish. It saved me 4 figures and has made me 6"

Here is the list:
​
​Level 1​
​Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy
​My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
​
​Level 2​
​On Advertising by David Ogilvy
​Pitch Anything & Flip the Script by Oren Klaff
​Better Business Writing by Bryan Garner*
Hand copy via pen & paper Ogilvy & Hopkins ads.
​
*Copy courses ignore the writing in copywriting part & fetishize tactics. BBW makes you a potent writer.
​
​Level 3​
Ben Franklin exercise Ogilvy and Hopkins ads.
​Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
​The Practical Stylist by Sheridan Baker
The Economist Magazine
​
"Google Ben Franklin writing exercise. Most overlook how Ogilvy and Hopkins were stylists. They created fresh advertising because they commanded rhetorical writing devices. They knew how to write counterpoints. Baker gives an excellent lesson. And The Economist exemplifies it."
​
​Level 4​
​Whiz Mob by David Maurer
​The Big Con by David Maurer
​The Con Game by Yellow Kid Weil as told W.T. Bannon
​The Cold Hard Facts of Cold Reading by Ian Rowland
​Psychological Narrative by John R Schafer
​Advanced Interviewing Techniques by John R Schafer & Joe Navarro
Tricks of The Mind by Derren Brown
​
​Level 5​
​The Winning Brief by Bryan Garner
​Plain Words by Sir Ernest Gowers
​Language in Thought and Action by S.I. Hayakawa
​30 Days to a more Powerful Vocabulary by Norman Lewis
​Writing With Style by John R. Trimble
Re-read Ogilvy and Hopkins

Galaxy Brain Resistance and Reading with LLM's

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin recently shared his article ‘Galaxy brain resistance,’ arguing that if a way of thinking can justify anything you already want, it is not real reasoning, and good arguments need built-in limits that keep you honest.

A few of the other main takeaways from the article:

• Arguments that can justify anything end up justifying nothing; a good reasoning style makes it hard to twist logic to fit any desired outcome.​
• Beware common patterns with low resistance, like inevitabilism (“it’s bound to happen, so let’s accelerate it”), and longtermism (“future gains justify anything today”), since these can lead to disconnected, self-interested rationalizations.​
• Bans and regulations should be based on clear harms to actual people, not on vague discomfort, aesthetics, or appeals to “moral fabric”.​
• Favor ethical frameworks and rules (like deontological principles) that give you boundaries and limit convenient self-deception.​
• In practical terms, build and use ideas and systems (e.g., low-risk DeFi) with real, proven track records.

Default Mode State of Amusement

With the holidays coming up, there is always a blend of joy and stress.
​
A tweet that has really stayed with me over the past week and a half is this one from one of my top three Twitter follows, @skooks:

skooks @skooookum If you can figure out how to configure your default state to be slightly amused rather than slightly annoyed you pretty much enter God Mode 7:16 PM • Nov 14, 2025 6736 Retweets 64750 Likes Read 368 replies

​

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.