The weekend is a great time to catch up on some of the reading you skipped during the week.  We hope you enjoy this set of long-form links.

Investing

So you want to be a trader: a reading list.  (Adam Grimes)

When and how to use merger arbitrage in an equity-focused portfolio.  (Pimco)

Peter Brandt talks trading with Charles Kirk.  (Peter L. Brandt)

Justin Fox talks the myth of the rational market.  (Motley Fool)

When it comes to academic research, trust by verify.  (Turnkey Analyst)

Policy

Megan McArdle, “The problem with congressional insider trading is that it erodes confidence in our political institutions. We can’t really afford to deplete that pitiful stock much further.”  (The Atlantic)

Relearning the lessons of Alexander Hamilton on debt and taxes.  (Vanity Fair)

On the fallout from allowing “corporate personhood.”  (The Psy-Fi Blog)

Profiles

An excerpt from Richard L. Brandt’s One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com.*  (WSJ)

How Nouriel Roubini became a research brand.  (Institutional Investor)

A profile of Scott Forstall the head of mobile software at Apple.  (Businessweek via SplatF)

A profile of Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren.  (Vanity Fair)

A profile of writer/director of Office Space, Mike Judge.  (NYTimes)

Mixed media

How to protect your Gmail from getting hacked.  (The Atlantic)

An illustrated history of technology on Wall Street.  (NYSSA)

On the use of behavioral economics in marketing.  (Nudge Blog)

Can a bibliophile go cold turkey and only read books on the Kindle?  (FT)

Sports

Inside the collapse of the 2012 Boston Red Sox.  (Boston Globe)

A great story about a great minor league pitcher.  (SI via The Browser)

The return of the Winnipeg Jets.  (Grantland)

How a single horse race can say so much about the game.  (McSweeney’s via The Browser)

Books

A skeptical review of Robert Frank’s The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good.* (Real Time Economics)

Frank Rose the author of The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation Is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories on how the web has changed storytelling.*  (EconTalk)

Why do Italians put up with Silvio Berlusconi?  An excerpt from Beppe Severgnini’s Mamma Mia!.*  (Slate)

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