Building Your Personal Canon
The Filtered is a growing reference library for learning better and thinking deeper.
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From the Learning Practice Collection: Stack 1
A personal canon isn’t about impressive or “must do” lists. It’s the set of works that have actually shaped how we think, create, and move through the world. This stack gathers three pieces that approach the idea from different angles: what a personal canon is, how to build one, and why it matters. Together, they offer a simple way to notice the influences that stay with us and the ones worth carrying forward.
Creating Your Own Personal Canon
Sonja Srinivasan | The Women of Letters | 2022
This is the cleanest, simplest introduction to the idea. It frames the personal canon emotionally and aesthetically — inspiration, taste, following the thread of what moves you. “There is no right or wrong here; all that matters is that you choose what you love, knowing that it reflects a part of you that is your deepest soul.”
How to curate your personal canon
Sabine Carys | Digital Meadow | 2025
This is a full walkthrough: what a personal canon is, why it matters, how to build one, what questions to ask, how to categorize, how to refine. Practical and philosophical at the same time. “In a world constantly pushing you towards the new, popular, and officially endorsed, a personal canon is a way to center what actually matters to you, rather than what’s supposed to matter.”
On the Formation of a Personal Canon
Severian | Sketches of Time | 2022
This one is more intellectual and meta. It contrasts “the canon” with a canon, talks about consensus vs taste, discusses subjectivity, and argues for the value of defining a personal canon as a way of knowing yourself. It’s more heady, but it adds depth and a different voice. “What works of art shaped your tastes, opened your mind to new ways of thinking, inspired you to create your own personal masterworks? Which of them have that mysterious je ne sais quoi that ensures they’ll remain perennial touchstones?”
This stack is from Learning Practice, one of the three ongoing collections inside The Filtered. This collection is about how to learn in a way that actually sticks — building understanding, strengthening recall, and creating practices, habits, and systems that support lifelong curiosity.