Books
Some weeks (like last week!) you finish multiple books, some weeks you finish none. This week, none. Still in the works are the Beast and the book on the book on the Hanafi siege on Washington, D.C. The Hanafi book I’m almost done with, the Sevi book… less so.
Articles
It feels like we’ve settled into a new normal with the advances in generative AI. For now, folks are sitting with it and the glut of fascinating takes seems to have slowed. Now we’re in the realm of the big article for folks who aren’t really paying attention, and no surprise the Financial Times has the best piece of that type. *
If you’ve spoke to me in person in the last six months you’ve heard me talk about interest rates and my growing confidence that nearly everything we thought was new and disruptive was really just a by product of cheap money. Example number 1,000 — Buzzfeed News, which was supposed to unseat places like FT and NYT is closing. No surprise, FT has a great article on this as well. The cheap money is gone and the news is going in two directions — back to the institutions, and to individual weirdos on substack. I’m looking forward to it.
Though I just bagged on it, there’s still a lot of good in NYT. For news FT is my first call, for interesting cultural shit for coastal elites, I go to NYT. If you read my substack you almost certainly subscribe, and maybe you saw this article on the Kylix cup scandal, but if not, it’s fun read worth the time.
Speaking of weirdo’s with substacks, the GOAT of the genre, Astral Codex Ten pointed me to this dude who is doing truly bizarre experiments in diet and weight loss. If you know me, you know I can’t resist this kind of content. Your mileage may vary.
Pods and Videos
As I’ve said before, I’m pretty confident the future belongs to the obsessively curious infovore. The poster boy of this is Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution, and his podcast is always a must listen for me. His latest with historian Anna Keay is exactly the kind of content I want. Accessible to the amateur, but not over dumbed down. If you don’t know who Christopher Wren is, you better learn!
Finally, I’ve been spending more time on my bike lately and getting a ton of inspiration from the Vegan Cyclist youtube channel, especially his “Impossible Ride” play list. Really great documentaries following him and friends on some insane bike adventures. Got me plotting some fun for the summer!
What about you? What have you been reading?
*As a side note, I really can’t recommend a subscription to the FT highly enough. The writing is absolutely top notch and while the New York Times creeps toward liberal click bait, FT sticks to the script of straight to the point reporting for folks who want it given to them straight, Yes it’s expensive, but I’ve never regretted it (and I’m going to link to it often in these round ups).
I'm glad you're writing on Substack--and I hope you keep it up.