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
How to think about private equity. (The American also Musings on Markets, Daniel Gross, Interloper)
What hath Wall Street wrought? (Big Picture)
Beware the bearer of billions in 1930s-era US Treasury bearer bonds. (Bloomberg)
Economics
How the Fed can prevent the next fiscal crisis. (Mark Thoma)
How to save economics. (Time)
Are the long term prospects for the Indian economy all that great? (Breakingviews)
Psychology
Barry Schwartz, “The lesson in all this research is that prioritizing what we do over what we have will lead to greater satisfaction with our lives.” (Daily Beast)
Why an “information diet” like that found in Clay Johnson’s The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption is essential today. (Brain Pickings)
Tucker Max has given up the game. What made him change? (Forbes via Atlantic Wire)
Science
What is your favorite deep, elegant or beautiful explanation? (Edge)
The mechanism, autophagy, by which exercise may extend lifespan. (Economist)
Media
Dean Starkman, “I would argue further that CNBC-ized reporting—granular, hurried, insider-dependent, and riveted on the (short-term) needs of investors—should be thought of less as coverage of the financial system than an extension of it.” (CJR)
Has ESPN gotten too big for its own good? (Newsweek)
What now for NPR? (Vanity Fair)
Sports
Rick Telander selects five books that demonstrate the “dark side” of football. (The Browser)
The “fast life” of double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius. (NYTimes)
Movies
George Lucas is retiring from the blockbuster business to pursue “personal films.” (NYTimes)
How did American Beauty ever win the Oscar for Best Picture? (GQ)
Book excerpts
An excerpt from Carl Richards’ The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money. (Big Picture)
An excerpt from Adam Lashinsky’s Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired–and Secretive–Company Really Works. (Fortune)
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