Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at why the ultra-wealthy love their gigayachts.
Quote of the Day
"It is insane that we have normalized spending the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it."
(Jack Raines)
Books
- Five insights from Kathryn Judge's new book "Direct: The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source." (nextbigideaclub.com)
- An excerpt from Paul Pringle’s new nonfiction thriller "Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels." (hollywoodreporter.com)
Climate change
- Climate change denial has been an organized PR effort on behalf of industry. (bbc.com)
- Island nations, like Barbados, are uniquely at-risk from climate change. (nytimes.com)
- We focus on trees, but grasslands has a huge impact on climate. (theatlantic.com)
- How India is struggling to live with rising temperatures. (newyorker.com)
Sports
- A profile of Kevin Warren who is commissioner of the increasingly powerful Big Ten conference. (sportico.com)
- What Saudi Arabia wants from its big investment in LIV Golf. (theathletic.com)
Longreads
- Leaders in business, government and science are getting older. (thediff.co)
- There simply aren't enough workers to care for America's elderly. (politico.com)
- The field of Alzheimer's research may be built on a lie. (science.org)
- Why counterintelligence officials are concerned about Chinese telecommunication equipment. (cnn.com)
- Why are the economic fortunes of Haiti and the Dominican Republic so different? (thefitzwilliam.com)
- Why the modern cinematic universes are so compelling to so many. (wsj.com)
- Why many people think Kingfish is the future of the blues. (wapo.st)