The weekend is a great time to catch up on some long form items that we passed up on during the week. Thanks for checking in.

Decision making

How legal training can make you a better investor.  (Above the Market)

The case for systematic decision making.  (Turnkey Analyst)

A dozen things learned from James Montier on investing.  (25iq)

Investing

Just how smart is your smart beta strategy?  (Research Affiliates via TRB)

Why bond returns matter to the 60/40 portfolio.  (Blackrock Blog)

On the application of cyclically adjusted valuation measures to individual stocks.  (Optimal Momentum, SSRN)

The more analyst coverage a company has the less innovative it becomes.  (Quartz)

Scale and skill in active management by Pastor, Stambaugh and Taylor.  (SSRN)

Personal finance

A closer look at Dave Ramsey’s iffy investment advice.  (Felix Salmon, ibid)

Three reasons why the financial planning industry sucks.  (Pete the Planner)

Economics

How the economic machine works (in 30 minutes).  (Economic Principles)

Markets don’t just aggregate information, but also “fundamentally irreconcilable perspectives.”  (Rajiv Sethi)

The long term trends point toward more renters than home buyers in the US.  (FT)

Business

Can McKinsey & Co. stay on top of the rapidly changing management consulting heap?  (Economist)

Americans are making toilets again.   (WSJ)

Nissan’s strategy to build self-driving cars.  (ReadWrite)

Technology

Expect more stories like this: robots are taking anesthesiologist jobs.  (WSJ)

The internet kills middlemen: now VCs.  (GigaOM)

Inside the Apple Store.  (McSweeney’s)

Science

Why we like sad music.  (NYTimes)

Married people do better when cancer strikes.  (Harvard)

Beer

Behold the surge in craft brewers in America.  (Carpe Diem)

Signs the craft beer craze has gone mainstream.  (Time)

Food

How dieting affects our mental bandwidth.  (NYTimes)

How Popeye’s went upscale.  (Wonkblog)

Farmed salmon isn’t as bad as it used to be.  (WashingtonPost)

Society

Applications to MBA programs are on the uptick.  (WSJ)

Are colleges providing value to their graduates?  (Priceonomics Blog)

Grit trumps talent.  (WSJ)

Sports

Is it okay to watch football?  (New Yorker)

The student section at college football games are sitting empty.  (WSJ)

The NFL is one of the most heavily subsidized industries in America.  (The Atlantic)

Entertainment

Dazed and Confused is twenty years old.  (The Daily Beast)

What Breaking Bad teaches us about modern business.  (Economist)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

What you may have missed in our Friday linkfest.  (Abnormal Returns)

Books

An excerpt from Daniel Alpert’s The Age of Oversupply: Overcoming the Greatest Challenge to the Global Economy.  (Business Insider)

An excerpt from The Firm: The Story of McKinsey and Its Secret Influence on American Business by Duff McDonald(CNBC)

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