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.

Finance

Just how much do individual investors lose by trading?  (The Psy-Fi Blog)

Trying to get at the real cause of the financial crisis.  (The Epicurean Dealmaker also Interloper)

Business

Steve Ballmer is trying to make Microsoft ($MSFT) relevant again.  (Businessweek)

What entrepreneurs can learn from a crime boss.  (GigaOM)

Economy

The US manufacturing economy continues to grow while shedding jobs.  (The Atlantic)

How automation is changing the nature of the world of work and consumption.  (Rick Bookstaber)

Science

Why we need more alogrithms and fewer doctors.  (TechCrunch)

The fifty year history of breast implants.  (The Guardian)

Gary Taubes author of Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It on how society got so far off track when it comes to diet.  (The Browser)

Scientists are saying: we need more zebrafish!  (WSJ)

Society

Inside the bike theft culture in America.  (Outside via @longform)

The cocaine trade is shifting away from Colombia.  (WSJ)

A profile of Ricky Gervais.  (NYTimes)

Psychology

Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, on why creativity often requires “privacy and freedom from interruption.”  (NYTimes)

Willpower is more about the “strategic allocation of attention” than anything else.  (The Frontal Cortex)

Sports

An examination of the concussion issue at the high school level.  (Grantland)

Did this man really cut Michael Jordan?  The story is more complicated than you think.  (SI)

In praise of hockey without the fighting.  (Grantland)

When an elite athlete chooses to stay amateur.  The case of Missy Franklin.  (WSJ)

Thanks for checking in with Abnormal Returns. You can follow us on StockTwits and Twitter.