I’ve lost track of the number of blogs that I follow, and there is one reason that makes this possible from a time management perspective: Google Reader.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that many popular blogs feature an odd orange icon or allude to subscribing to their “RSS Feed.” “What is RSS,” you ask? Well,
RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, blogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it. RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site’s email newsletter.
When you visit your favorite blog and click on that ubiquitous orange icon or on “Subscribe to RSS Feed” and paste that information in your Google Reader, then — instead of visiting dozens (or hundreds) of blogs each day — you can quickly scroll through Google Reader for the latest content, which is infinitely more efficient since most bloggers do not update daily. I’ve found that I can move through my Google Reader feed even faster using the free iPhone app, clicking “Keep Unread” only on those items that I want to read later on my laptop.
To perhaps pique your interest further, the following are ten blogs (in no particular order) that you may find meaningful in 2012:
- Duke Divinity’s Call & Response Blog: Faith & Leadership: Excellent collection of the best “News & Ideas” spotted by the blog’s editors.
- Michael Hyatt: Intentional Leadership: The musings of the chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Christian publishing company in the world. Michael’s more conservative theologically than I am, but I appreciate his “thoughts on leading with purpose, personal productivity, book publishing, and social media.”
- Seth Godin: Seth writes about the “post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. American Way Magazine calls him, ‘America’s Greatest Marketer,’ and his blog is perhaps the most popular in the world written by a single individual.”
- Richard Rohr: Unpacking Paradoxes: One of our greatest living wisdom teachers recently started blogging. Need I say more?
- An und fur sich: I love the ongoing discussion here at the intersection of religion and philosophy, politics and culture, but be forewarned that they are unabashedly elitist.
- Mahan Siler: Anam Cara: Another great site from a living elder and wisdom teacher.
- Vegetarian Running: No Meat Athlete: As a longtime vegetarian and newbie triathlete, I appreciate the encouraging and helpful resources on this blog.
- Religion and Other Curiosities: Peter Berger’s Blog: Berger is a renown sociologist of religion, who frequently pulls together fascinating juxtapositions of articles in his posts.
- Peter Rollins: You should be reading his books as well as his blog. Rollins makes Post-Structuralist Philosophical Theology accessible for a general audience. (Seriously, he does.) Impressive. Most impressive. And challenging.
- Website of Unknowing: Anamchara: Carl McColman is apparently moving his blog to Patheos (welcome to the team!) So stay tuned for a new RSS feed. He writes on the “contemplative dimension of Christian spirituality, and the exciting new frontier of interfaith dialogue and interspirituality.”
And, of course, I would be remiss not to mention that the RSS Feed for my blog is here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/carlgregg/feed/.
You can also subscribe to my posts via e-mail using the widget at the top right-hand corner of this Patheos blog. Thanks, everyone, for reading.
What else should I be reading in 2012? I welcome your feedback in the comments section.
Update: Perhaps I should also quality that the above is essentially what you should be reading if you are, like me, an unabashed (or aspiring) God Nerd (h/t: Christian Piatt).
The Rev. Carl Gregg is a trained spiritual director, a D.Min. candidate at San Francisco Theological Seminary, and the pastor of Broadview Church in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. Follow him on Facebook (facebook.com/carlgregg) and Twitter (@carlgregg).
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