The weekend is a great time to catch up on some long-form links you missed during the week. We think this should also include our new book, Abnormal Returns: Winning Strategies from the Frontlines of the Investment Blogosphere. Enjoy.

Finance

Aspiring investment bankers should heed the ‘hedonic treadmill.’  (The Epicurean Dealmaker also Wall Street Oasis)

In totality active management fees are much higher than you think.  (Charles Ellis via @researchpuzzler)

We humans tend to operate on autopilot, which works until it doesn’t.  (The Psy-Fi Blog)

Business

How McDonald’s ($MCD) came back bigger (and better?) than ever.  (NYTimes)

The rise and fall of Turntable.fm. (Inc.)

The story behind YKK, the world’s preeminent zipper maker.  (Slate)

Why business writing is so bad.  (Inc.)

How Pantone became a color tastemaker.  (Slate)

Economics

Is inequality a sign the US economy is working or not?  (NYTimes)

Did the division of labor create consciousness?  (Falkenblog)

People are losing trust in ALL institutions.  (Big Picture)

Horse racing

Who is responsible for the slow and painful death of horse racing?  (The Atlantic)

Horse breeders are now focusing on genetics to get an edge.  (Scientific American)

The unfortunate economics of owning race horses.  (Marketwatch, NYTimes)

Profiles

Who is Alex Trebek?  (WashingtonPost)

What is George Hatz, the best hacker of his generation, up to now?  (New Yorker)

The story of Joe Paterno’s biographer, Joe Posnanski.  (NYTimes)

How fugitive George Wright stayed out of the grasp of the authorities for decades.  (GQ)

Science

in medicine observational studies are all the rage.  (WSJ)

How big data has transformed the dairy industry.  (The Atlantic)

Psychology

Samuel McNerny, “It’s natural for us to reduce the complexity of our rationality into convenient bite-sized ideas. ”  (Scientific American)

The mysterious case of the vanishing genius.  (Psychology Today via The Browser)

Can toddlers learn anything from an iPad?  (Slate)

Entertainment

How Fred Savage became a go-to director of sitcoms.  (GQ)

An oral history of NBC’s last big hit, Friends.  (Vanity Fair)

A Q&A with film director Whit Stillman.  (Economist)

Books

Daniel Gross on the new “Rentership Society” from his new book Better, Stronger Faster: The Myth of American Decline and the Rise of a New Economy.  (WSJ)

An interview with Daron Acemoglu co-author of Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty.  (TrumanFactor via The Browser)

An excerpt from David Maraniss’ new biography Barack Obama: The Story.  (Vanity Fair)

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