👋 Hello there, I’m Aruna.
Surface Tension is my weekly exploration of insights and thought provoking quotes from the books I read, bundled into one idea worth sitting with. For more, browse my book notes and long form articles.
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Read previous issues of the Surface Tension newsletter:
2026
The Danger of a Fixed Perspective
The best kind of life lives in the grey areas, where we are able to alter the balance between two extremes, matched to the situation we are in.
Date: May 24, 2026
The Boundary Within
Progress very much depends on the boundaries we build around our attention.
Date: May 16, 2026
The Moving Benchmark
Being close to people who challenge your idea of “good enough,” and still want the best for you, will inevitably pull you toward a better version of yourself.
Date: May 14, 2026
The Selfish Beginnings
Any creative work often begins selfishly, but it only becomes truly meaningful when you sense the right transition point between making it for yourself and making it for others.
Date: May 4, 2026
Are we going to get replaced by AI?
The real danger is not AI itself. It is carrying yesterday's definition of skill into tomorrow's labor market.
Date: April 27, 2026
Kindle vs Physical Books
Reading on a Kindle instead of reading a physical book is not really a compromise. It is an easier path to the same destination.
Date: April 21, 2026
The Problem of the Wrong Fit
We're each disposed toward some set of skills. But some of us have a harder time finding ours. And part of why that happens isn't always about the person. Sometimes it's about the setting in which the person is being judged.
Date: April 12, 2026
Nature Versus Nurture
Getting good at anything is not impossible, but it is not equally possible at every stage of life either.
Date: April 3, 2026
What Monopoly Gets Right About Real Life
The real mistake is to think that the all-in solution to all the tradeoffs life throws at you is courage, when very often that is just one end of a spectrum, and the best possible outcome lives somewhere in the middle.
Date: March 31, 2026
It’s Better to Be Wrong Than to Be Vague and Confusing
Only the language that is precise enough to be wrong is good enough to be useful.
Date: March 22, 2026
Are You Standing Too Close to the Book?
Why the real reading begins after you finish the book
Date: March 16, 2026
How to Tell a Book from a Market Commodity?
Are books becoming profound nonsense?
Date: March 13, 2026
When the response become the damage
Outcomes often belong to the reaction more than the original trigger
Date: March 13, 2026
How to separate trade-offs from avoidable costs
There are no solutions, only trade-offs
Date: March 13, 2026
2025
