Vitaly Parnas

I’m Vitaly Parnas: minimalist, writer, life experimenter/hacker, traveler.

Head photo

The foundation

The foundation of my interest revolves around health and mindful living. Nutrition, movement, comprehensive exercise, and (I underline) quality rest, play a paramount role on the physical and cognitive performance, which I prioritize before anything else.

Likewise, I believe in sustaining lengthy and consistent intervals of mind/body presence, distancing mobile devices and social platforms to a feasible extent, despite the difficulties this imposes on the contemporary means of self-promotion.

The cyber

As part of digital ‘simplification’, I leverage low-resource Unix/Linux command-line-interface (CLI) tools in a significant offline mode of operation wherever possible. Beyond the minimal hardware constraints, beyond the greater independence from the heavier, cloud-based, commercial products, this terminal-based, hacker-oriented approach fills me with that certain sense of aesthetic pleasure, one I try to vainly inspire upon others.

The nomadic

Over several years I’ve lived as what one might call a ‘digital’ nomad in a series of countries, although I much prefer a plain nomad. During these periods I’ve arguably learned more than any book or academic program has imparted.

Language

Throughout my early thirties I’ve also reached fluency in a few secondary languages. By secondary, I mean in contrast to the ones considered fairly native to you (Russian and English are my native).

If pragmatically handled, I find secondary-language fluency one of the most rewarding investments socioeconomically; not to mention the notable expansion of cognitive pathways, possibly to the extent of ‘culturoethnic mutation.’

Reading

Consistent reading has defined a severe portion of my life. And contrary to many of the more pragmatic erudites, I prioritize literature over non-fiction, classics over contemporary, and often esoteric and ancient language over the more accessible.

Which makes me not one of those 50/100/300-book-a-year readers. Emphasizing rhetoric before the narrative, each fragment before the whole, I opt for a deliberately slow pace. This is the sort of literature and reading I recommend for anyone not merely in it for the main idea, but for the art. It’s my hobby, my vice, my narcotic, my passion.

See my book aggregator.

Writing

Despite this site making pace since only late 2017, I’ve been writing personally for a couple of decades, and then probably some. I’ve journaled and captured notes throughout a vast portion of my experiences, and recommend the practice to anyone. Document everything.

Now not only that, do aim to make your content maximally indexable, searchable and generally accessible for your own sake. I’ve taken incremental steps to exercise this due diligence across both paper and digital, and have even shared applicable strategies throughout various writings.

The Wiki also showcases content that developed organically from consistent documentation.

As with other matters where I take less than a practical approach, this site is no exception.

Sometimes I write to divulge applicable and pertinent material, and really do try to give it a digestible shape. On other occasions, I simply indulge for its own sake, in a way that likely violates every one of those best publishing practices.

Learning style

Formal academic programs I’ve viewed with skepticism over the years, insofar as their cost-benefit factor. They carry mild leverage in corporate employment. Pursue them also for their own sake if academia defines your goal. (I’ve entertained academic interest for years.)

If, however, an entrepreneurial or plain independent lifestyle is what you desire, I consider street style of learning second to none.

Some of the most impactful knowledge I’ve attained independently and solo: life hacking, body hacking, nutritional insight, languages, travel IQ, financial intelligence, memory systems, the Linux OS, the VIM editor (and other terminal-based apps), minimalist teachings, stoic philosophy.

To summarize

I write on these and a variety of other subjects. See categories or the highlights to narrow to your taste.

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