This website is a blog. The name—a portmanteau of “monk” and “bootstrapping”¹—means “creating online businesses to fund a life of intellectual exploration.”² Originally, I thought the blog would be about that.

Now, the blog is just about topics that interest me, with no particular unifying theme. Many articles are about technology, philosophy, or literature. I still like the name, though, so I publish here.

I write this blog pseudonymously but not fanatically so. My name is not on the site, but I send links to friends without hiding my authorship. This half-hearted layer of indirection is simply meant to lower the mental hurdle of publishing my thoughts publicly.

I started a blog for several reasons.

First, writing helps me understand things better. Sometimes, I think I understand something well until I try to explain it and find that I can’t.³ Writing helps me work through that.

Second, writing helps me communicate with others more clearly. Sometimes, I get excited about a book or concept but struggle to articulate why, especially in casual conversation. Writing helps me understand why and rehearse the explanation.

Third, writing creates a record of something that was important to me, at least at some point, and would otherwise fade. I explore lots of ideas, but I soon forget all but the most basic details. Writing creates a record I can revisit in the future without necessarily revisiting the source material. I can also share the record with others if they take a deeper interest in one of the topics.

Finally, writing helps balance mindless content consumption with the discipline of content creation. I hope this will lengthen my attention span and strengthen my critical thinking skills.