Holiday book alert: The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload by Daniel J. Levitin received multiple recommendations in this Bloomberg survey of notable books.

Finance

How will Silicon Valley disrupt the financial system?  (FT Alphaville)

Can Robinhood help democratize investing with the help of Millennials?  (Institutional Investor)

Health

Are we overtreating diseases due to “preventative medicine”?  (Aeon via @digg)

Why tech companies are focusing on health care.  (HBR)

The brain

How increasingly automated cockpits are dulling pilot minds.  (Slate)

Mondegreens: when your brain mishears what your ear takes in.  (New Yorker)

The color of your mug can affect how your morning coffee tastes.  (Wonkblog)

Is it time to dump foreign languages from school?  (Quartz)

Food

Bourbon drinkers are freaking out about shortages.  (WSJ)

The surge in organic farming is stretching thin resources for certification.  (WSJ)

In praise of schmaltz.  (NYTimes)

Sports

Why running hurts every part of your body.   (Wired)

Beware the foam roller trend.  (Outside via @hughesmatt)

Helmetless tacking is teaching football players safer tackling technique.  (SI)

Media

NPR’s 50 favorite albums of 2014 including Jenny Lewis’ The Voyager.  (NPR)

The 10 best TV shows of 2014 including HBO’s True Detective.  (Vulture)

The 10 best books of 2014 including Jennifer Senior’s All Fun and No Joy: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood.  (Slate)

Earlier on Abnormal Returns

An investment post worth bookmarking for future reference.  (Abnormal Returns)

Podcast Friday: mistakes happen.  (Abnormal Returns)

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

Mixed media

Why do people in New York City wait in line so much?  (Marginal Revolution)

In what areas we have embraced robots.  (Om Malik)

Everyone is broken and life is hard.  (Nick Grossman via Brad Feld)

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