Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at the real world impact of 3D printing.
Quote of the Day
"Companies are not our friends; our workplaces are not our families."
(Anne Helen Petersen)
Books
- An excerpt from “The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941” by Robert Kagan. (wapo.st)
- A Q&A with Jamie Kreiner author of "The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us about Distraction." (insidehook.com)
- An excerpt from Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz’s new book, "The Good Life: Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness." (theatlantic.com)
- A Q&A with Lauren Fleshman author of "Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World." (davidepstein.substack.com)
- An excerpt from "The Great Air Race: Glory, Tragedy, and the Dawn of American Aviation" by John Lancaster. (insidehook.com)
Finance
- Tim Harford, "The railways were a disaster for their investors, and the railway bubble caused vastly more hardship than the tulip mania ever could." (ft.com)
- How Destiny wants to bring access to private markets to public investors. (generalist.com)
Technology
- Emad Mostaque, “Every single major content provider in the world thought they needed a metaverse strategy: they all need a generative media strategy.” (on.ft.com)
- How online platforms die. (pluralistic.net)
Longreads
- The 1918 influenza has largely been forgotten. Will we eventually forget Covid? (wsj.com)
- A shrinking population isn't a disaster but it is a drag. (noahpinion.substack.com)
- How shoplifting has become institutionalized over time. (curbed.com)
- NIL deals are creative haves and have nots on campus. (nytimes.com)
- Plant-based meats now look like a transitional technology, i.e. fad. (bloomberg.com)
- Why Kraft mac and cheese invokes a lot of feelings. (catapult.co)