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Merlin Mann

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Merlin Dean Mann III
Born (1966-11-26) November 26, 1966 (age 58)
Cincinnati, Ohio, US
Occupationwriter, blogger, podcaster
NationalityAmerican
Website
www.merlinmann.com

Merlin Dean Mann III (born November 26, 1966 in Cincinnati, Ohio) wrote the blog 43 Folders through October 2011.

Early life and education

Merlin Mann was born Merlin Dean Mann III on November 26, 1966, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mann received a B.A. from New College of Florida.[1]

Career

Writing

In September 2004,[2] Mann founded and began the exclusive writing for the 43 Folders,[3][4] a blog about "finding the time and attention to do your best creative work."[2] The blog was last updated October 2011.[5]

Beginning in the mid-2000s, Mann wrote articles for Macworld,[6] Make (the "Life Hacks" series, with Danny O'Brien, February 2005-November 2006),[7] and Popular Science (Ask a Geek series, 2005-2007).[8][9]

On August 18, 2009, Mann announced that he was writing a book, to be entitled Inbox Zero,[4] about "how to reclaim your email, your attention, and your life."[10] The book project has since been canceled.

Mann also writes for his personal blog, Kung Fu Grippe.

Podcasting

As a companion to the 43 Folders blog, Mann launched the sporadically broadcast 43 Folders podcast in 2005. In 2007, Mann launched You Look Nice Today, a comedy podcast that bills itself as "A Journal of Emotional Hygiene,"[4] an effort he created with Adam Lisagor, and Scott Simpson. Mann has also produced QPR: Quotidian Public Radio, an audio podcast launched in January 2009, which was billed as "audio comfort food for annoyed liberals in fleece." Mann was one of the hosts on the MacBreak video podcast, and a core host on the MacBreak Weekly audio podcast. Since 2008, he has scaled back his appearances on the series.

Beginning in January 18, 2011, and continuing to present (March 2016), Mann has co-hosted the weekly Back to Work podcast with Dan Benjamin on 5by5,[11] where they discuss subjects like productivity,[12] work life,[13] and true costs of doing business.[14] In September 2011, Mann launched Roderick on the Line, a weekly conversation with musician/writer John Roderick.

In May 2015, Mann and technology blogger Jim Dalrymple started The Dalrymple Report podcast, more recently presented as "The Dalrymple Report with Merlin Mann," which continued through its 32nd episode on September 15, 2015.[15] In June 2015, Mann began a 10 podcast series with John Siracusa in collaboration with Relay FM called Reconcilable Differences, which has since been extended.

Mann has also appeared as a guest on other podcasts, including the CBC radio show–podcast Spark, The Chronicle of Higher Education's ProfHacker,[4] Scruffy Thinking, CMD+SPACE, and various episodes of Dan Benjamin's The Conversation.

Videos

In early 2009, Mann produced a short video series, Most Days. On February 26, 2007, Mann launched The Merlin Show, a video podcast primarily dedicated to long-form interviews. Mann has also published a long-running series of video shorts named That Phone Guy.

Other work

Mann has been described as the "inventor" of the Hipster PDA,[3] a paper-based, DIY personal organizer that uses design cues found in David Allen's Getting Things Done. Mann is also known for his work with Quicksilver, a program used for quickly executing actions from the keyboard in Mac OS X.[16]

Mann was a member of the Tallahassee, Florida-based indie rock band Bacon Ray from 1994 to 1999.[17] He started a cover song project of Will Oldham's song "I Am a Cinematographer."[18]

Personal life

Mann started treatment for attention deficit disorder in 2008, something which he says helped his focus.[3] He occasionally talks about his experiences with ADHD on his Back to Work podcast on the 5by5 network.

Mann resides in San Francisco, California with his wife and daughter.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Mann, Merlin (2015-03-17). "Merlin's Bio - Merlin Mann". merlinmann.com. Retrieved 17 March 2016.[self-published source]
  2. ^ a b Mann, Merlin (2007-08-19). "About 43 Folders". 43folders.com. Retrieved 17 March 2016. 43 Folders is Merlin Mann's website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work … launched… on Wednesday, September 1, 2004 with an introductory post whose improbable title suggested that productivity can be like sausage; no one likes seeing it discussed at length on the internet by middle-aged men.[self-published source]
  3. ^ a b c Anderson, Sam (2009). "In Defense of Distraction" (print, online article). New York Magazine (May 25): p. 6. Retrieved 17 March 2016. Published 17 May online; page number refers to online article. {{cite journal}}: |page= has extra text (help)
  4. ^ a b c d Jones, Jason B. (2009). "The ProfHacker Podcast: Merlin Mann and the First Person Transitive" (major news online blog). The Chronicle of Higher Education (September 11). Retrieved 17 March 2016. Launch week at ProfHacker continues today with our very first podcast, which features a very special guest: Merlin Mann, of 43folders, Inbox Zero, and the comedy podcast troupe You Look Nice Today! A Journal of Emotional Hygiene.
  5. ^ Mann, Merlin (2009-01-09). "The Monthly Pimp: January '09 Edition". 43folders.com. Retrieved 17 March 2016.[self-published source]
  6. ^ See, for instance, Mann, Merlin D. (2005). "Secrets of Mac superheroes: The inbox makeover" (online article). Macworld (April 26). Retrieved 17 March 2016. {{cite journal}}: External link in |ref= (help)
  7. ^ See, for instance, makezine Staff (2006). "Latest from Merlin Mann [Life Hacks series, with Danny O'Brien]" (online article). Make magazine (makezine) (November 20). Retrieved 17 March 2016. {{cite journal}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |journal= (help) Individual article pages at this magazine suggest 41 articles from these two authors, indicating a wider span than 2005-2006, but specific citation could only be found to support a conclusion of eight Life Hack articles. Further sourcing is needed to support any more.
  8. ^ See, for instance, How 2.0 Geeks (2007). "Fourteen Things Geeks Can Teach the World" (online article). Popular Science (March 20). Retrieved 17 March 2016.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Note, links to further specific Mann articles, from this article, are inoperable.
  9. ^ See, for instance, Mann, Merlin (2005). "Ask a geek: Merlin Mann—Q: What is tagging?" (online article). Popular Science (June 23). Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  10. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20091104132706/http://inboxzero.com:80/2009/08/18/the-book/. Archived from the original on November 4, 2009. Retrieved October 19, 2009. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Mann, Merlin & Benjamin, Dan (2016). Back to Work (podcast). Austin, TX, USA: Dan Benjamin and 5by5 Productions. Retrieved 17 March 2016. The first broadcast was on January 18, 2011 ("Alligator in the Bathroom", and episode 263, "The Working Definition of Love", was broadcast on March 15, 2016.
  12. ^ See, for instance, Mann, Merlin & Benjamin, Dan (2011-01-25). Back to Work #2: Picture of a Boat (podcast). Austin, TX, USA: Dan Benjamin and 5by5 Productions. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  13. ^ See, for instance, Mann, Merlin & Benjamin, Dan (2011-03-08). Back to Work #7: Vocational Wheel (podcast). Austin, TX, USA: Dan Benjamin and 5by5 Productions. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  14. ^ See, for instance, Mann, Merlin & Benjamin, Dan (2012-01-31). Back to Work #52: Walk the Coastline, Bitches (podcast). Austin, TX, USA: Dan Benjamin and 5by5 Productions. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  15. ^ Dalrymple, Jim & Mann, Merlin (2015). The Dalrymple Report (podcast). San Francisco, CA, USA[verification needed]: loopinsight.com. Retrieved 17 March 2016.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: location (link) The first broadcast was on May 18, 2015, entitled "Fish and Lumber, and episode 32, entitled "You Hacked My Matrix," was broadcast on September 15, 2015.
  16. ^ A further, similar product in this market is The Omni Group's OmniFocus.
  17. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20100209064226/http://baconray.com:80/. Archived from the original on February 9, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2009. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20070927203050/http://cinematographer.merlinmann.com/. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved July 7, 2007. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

Further reading

  • Jones, Jason B. (2009). "The ProfHacker Podcast: Merlin Mann and the First Person Transitive" (major news online blog). The Chronicle of Higher Education (September 11). Retrieved 17 March 2016. Launch week at ProfHacker continues today with our very first podcast, which features a very special guest: Merlin Mann, of 43folders, Inbox Zero, and the comedy podcast troupe You Look Nice Today! A Journal of Emotional Hygiene. Mann first became internet-famous for 43folders.com, which began as a site for Mann to explore David Allen's Getting Things Done (43 folders = the number of manila folders to keep organized every day in every month) and to wrestle with productivity in general. Over time, it evolved into a different kind of site, as Mann began to think more and more deeply about how to make the time, and sustain the attention, necessary for creative work. Inbox Zero began as an approach to e-mail–turn off the damn autocheck on your e-mail!–and, like 43folders, evolved into an approach to attention.
  • Staff at 5by5 (2016). "Merlin Mann on 5by5". Austin, TX, USA: Dan Benjamin and 5by5 Productions. Retrieved 17 March 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

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