NextDraft by Dave Pell

Speaking of how I discover great non-fiction on the web, I have been a subscriber of Dave Pell’s NextDraft for months now, and it’s become a daily appointment that I’m always looking forward to.

At first, I didn’t “get” NextDraft at all and I couldn’t understand why people were making such a big deal about it. After all, NextDraft is a daily newsletter, and the last thing I wanted was another email requiring my attention in my inbox.

A few weeks in, I was hooked. Dave Pell, who also writes Tweetage Wasteland, sits down every day and collects “the day’s most fascinating news” in the form of (usually) 1o “blurbs” containing links. That’s it. There are no photos or videos or slideshows infesting what is, essentially, a human-curated list of links I wouldn’t have time to collect personally. NextDraft arrives in my inbox on a daily basis with a collection of insightful articles, news items, and subtle humor that offers an enjoyable combination of Pell’s distinct humor and Internet research skills. In fact, aside from the occasional jokes and witty remarks, I always get the feeling that Pell cares about providing a collection of links – not necessarily “breaking news” – that offer context and perspective to the reader. Case in point: yesterday, Dave collected four links on the fiscal cliff to explain what it is, what it means, what are its consequences, and why politics has become the new reality TV.

Or, to better get Dave’s style, here’s the typical Apple rumor you’d find in the “Bottom of the News” section:

It’s another year so here’s another useless Apple rumor: The company is reportedly testing the iPhone 6 and iOS 7. Seriously, what the hell else would they be doing, re-examining the Mac SE?

NextDraft is also available as a Universal iOS app with push notifications and an archive of the most recent newsletters. I use the app on my iPad, and I like how it breaks the blurbs in pages you can swipe through to reach The Bottom of the News. The app lets you use your Instapaper, Pocket, and Readability accounts to “read later”, and it uses native Twitter and Facebook integration on iOS to let you share blurbs; if you want to “read before you share”, there’s an in-app browser (with a text mode) to preview articles without leaving NextDraft.

I didn’t believe I could look forward to receiving a newsletter every day, but it happened with NextDraft. Dave Pell does an exceptional job in bringing quality news to me with a style that’s informative and friendly. More importantly, NextDraft is uniquely human, with no robots involved in link aggregation. Subscribe here.