Lucky are those who have an inquisitive spirit (thirsty for knowledge, not curiosity) that seems endless. This encourages us to keep asking questions and looking for answers. In addition, the thirst for knowledge can overcome boredom or being stuck in a situation without change. It’s like we can entertain ourselves with “Body and fate may stagnate, but science continues to advance.”

In addition to improving your mood, satisfying your curiosity helps you see many different points of view. Of course, the knowledge gained may not be directly related to work. Imagine how boring it would be if all knowledge was only sought for the sake of work.

At C4C, thirst for knowledge is one of our creeds. First, our work deals with human behavior. Human behavior is not only influenced by personal factors (or colloquially: “depending on each other’s personality”) or the immediate environment. Like it or not, we have to look at the influence of social, political, economic, cultural, and historical contexts on behavior. The determinants of behavior are numerous and no one person can explore them all, so the combined understanding of several people who have different curious interests- difference will be very useful.

The second reason, apart from analyzing complex human behavior, we also have to create communication ideas that can trigger change. We believe “There is nothing new under the sun”, aka a new idea is actually a combination of pre-existing ideas. So, to generate effective ideas there must be many references to various ideas and thoughts from any perspective.

List of “thirst source” topics from our team members

It is not surprising that almost all members of the C4C team are curious about human behavior. Examples of topics in this category: the irrationality of human behavior, especially those related to social identity and “deep beliefs” such as morality, religion, value systems, or social norms. Examples of other topics are how to change human behavior: when persuasion can be effective (including advertising and propaganda), and how to teach adults.

In addition, we are also interested in creativity and art, for example how artists, designers or creative individuals think and work. We also use art as a medium of relaxation to reduce stress and anxiety.

We’re also interested in investing, food, apps, interior design, cats and dogs, mental health, and even sports news like the NFL and NBA!

We want to share the media and sources of information that we frequently consume to satisfy our curiosity. Here is our selection of reading materials, watching, podcasts (or according to KBBI: siniar). Who knows you will be interested in trying it.

Media such as The Atlantic, The New Yorker or The Economist are very helpful to deepen the context of current events (in addition to seeing examples of good writing and enriching English vocabulary). For example, at C4C we not only wanted to know about Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard, but we wanted to know what factors contributed to this case being brought to the world’s attention, and what the implications were.

If you prefer to listen to broadcasts in the investigative journalism genre and are bored with the same old true-crime style of discussion, we recommend The Trojan Horse Affair and In The Dark. If you are still not satisfied (and can chew the bitterness of the world), you can read ProPublica as the gold standard of investigative journalism.

Tired of investigative journalism? Investigative journalism makes you feel helpless? You can escape to a fictional world that’s a little fairer than the real world, so we recommend police procedural series from the UK like Line of Duty, Broadchurch, Unforgotten, or Happy Valley. If you’re lazy to think, we have colleagues who enjoy watching all versions of Law & Order, or imaginative ones like Tokyo Vice.

If you prefer to consume fictional stories in the slice-of-life genre, our colleagues recommend the animations Night is short, Walk on girl and A Man and His Cat.
If you’re interested in history, readings like Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari may have you read. This book explains the history of the natural and social sciences that can be created from the Stone Age to the 21st century. Another option is the books by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson (Why Nations Fail and The Narrow Corridor). For broadcasts, you can try The Last Archive, Decoder Ring, or Things Fell Apart.

If you are interested in art and creativity, shows like Abstract: The art of design can be our recommendation. This event can show the perspective of creative workers who are famous in their respective fields. As a viewer, you will also be invited to follow a series of instructions by these designers and creatives in order to experience their creations from your screen. According to our colleagues, this spectacle can open a new way of looking at the world.

If you prefer video essays about art and science, then we recommend the Nerdwriter1 channel. In addition to being informative, it will only take you under 10 minutes! Of course it can be an option if you are on a short break.

Or if you prefer to listen to broadcasts about literary arts, our colleagues recommend the Kejar smart package. Or if you’re interested in design, you can listen to the broadcast Nice Try! or 99% Invisble.

Mental health is one of the favorite topics of many of our colleagues (feel free to speculate the reasons why). Readings such as the book The School of Life: An emotional education can be suitable materials. This book discusses emotional intelligence and its impact on life. According to our colleagues, this book describes the emotions that influence our lives, from personal to professional. If you like to meditate while listening to a chant to achieve calm, we recommend the Affirmation Pod by Josie Ong.

What about the mental health link with music? A colleague of ours believes that one way to deal with life’s discomfort or misery (dukkha) is to play a personal anthem. This colleague every Sunday listens to the broadcast of Soul Music, and usually while in tears on the treadmill. Each episode of Soul Music discusses how a song (which Generation X is probably more familiar with) is created, and ultimately becomes a personal anthem that can help listeners deal with suffering (dukkha).

But do not forget about worldly affairs, such as investments. If you are more interested in investing, the book The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L Collins can be our recommendation. This book can help simplify your investment strategy, from choosing stocks to investing in low-cost index funds. According to our colleagues, this book saves time and effort, and reduces risk.

The most important and comforting worldly affairs is food. If you are interested in seeing a different perspective through food, a television series like Chef’s Table will really help you understand the lives of famous chefs and their passion for the culinary world. You can learn a lot about human behavior from food, if you listen to Gastro Obscura from their website or Instagram account. If you’re more into fiction, then we recommend Midnight Diner.