The autumn Drift + Focus box was curated around the theme MIND, an enormous topic that took us on a tour of complex investigations into the source of human consciousness, cognitive bias and why we can't focus on anything any more.
We read a lot of books before we settled on the two we sent our subscribers.
Book One
On Agoraphobia by Graham Caveney
A gripping and poetic account of journalist Graham Caveney's experience of living with agoraphobia. There's so much conversation about mental health nowadays it's easy to forget what it really means. Reading this book is a brilliant reminder that our internal landscapes are incredible and complicated places, and all the better for being honestly explored.
Book Two
How to Build a Healthy Brain by Kimberley Wilson
Kimberley Wilson is a Chartered Psychologist and a governor of an NHS mental health trust. Her book is self-help at its very best: science-based, complex but accessible, and of real practical value. Packed with eye-opening facts and suggestions for making immediate improvements to your brain health.
Magazine
Our exclusive subscriber magazine in the autumn box included eight pages of mind-related book recommendations.
We were delighted to include two pieces of print in our autumn box. The first was an A5 print from neurodivergent artist, Theo Dagadita, which reminded our subscribers to take good care of their precious minds.
The second was a reading manifesto postcard from artist and printmaker, Jules Anson, which subscribers could pin somewhere as a reminder to read more or post to a friend who's lost their reading mojo.
Gift
Our autumn gift was specially created for Drift + Focus by Laura at Pineandbear. She took a job lot of surplus cotton zip pouches that were heading for landfill and hand dyed them with eco-friendly vegan dye. She then hand stitched each pouch using her original 1929 vintage chain stitch machine and added a bead detail to the zip pull.
The result is a truly planet-friendly, one of a kind pouch that subscribers can use to zip away their phones when they're ready to sit down and read.
Digital library
We packed the digital library with thought provoking mind-related podcasts and other content, plus two great playlists compiled by Ben Burns, a music writer, producer and engineer with over twenty years' music creation experience with everyone from David Byrne to Orbital and back again.
Like what you've seen?
To minimise waste, we only make up as many boxes as we have orders for, so if you want to get your hands on our winter box - dispatching in December - make sure you order before the cart closes on November 30th.