Book review: The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia by Michael Booth is an “engaging literary journey through the Nordic countries..” (Barron’s)
Autos
- Price matters. Americans are buying gas guzzlers again. (slate.com)
- An engineering theory of the Volkswagen diesel scandal. (newyorker.com)
Air travel
- Some travelers demand an 18-hour non-stop from New York to Singapore. (bloomberg.com)
- The sad truth about airline fares. (fusion.net)
- US Air and American ($AAL) are finally merging for realsies. (bloomberg.com)
Amazon Fire TV
- A nice review of the new Amazon Fire TV. (theverge.com)
- You can get the new Amazon Fire here (or anything else for that matter). (amzn.to)
The brain
- The rise of the 'meditation mafia.' (nytimes.com)
- Grit is great, but you also need to know when to give up. (scienceblog.com)
- Quash your bad habits by knowing what triggers them. (hbr.org)
- Try to listen to your thoughts without judging. (farnamstreetblog.com)
Health
- Sean Parker, who has a peanut allergy, is funding research into oral immunotherapy. (bloomberg.com)
- Do we really need 7 hours of sleep a night? (well.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Sandboxes are disgusting. (slate.com)
Fitness
- Want to burn more calories when you walk? Vary your pace. (qz.com)
- Do helmet laws do more harm than good? (wsj.com)
Food
- Another big restaurateur is giving up on tipping. (ny.eater.com)
- McDonald's ($MCD) franchisees are not loving all-day-breakfast. (time.com)
- Some reasons to hate farmers markets. (washingtonpost.com)
Drink
- Light beer demand is in secular decline. (wsj.com)
- Craft breweries are in high demand. (latimes.com)
- How to shop for pot in Denver. (priceonomics.com)
Sports
- The US should grow up about sports gambling. (grantland.com)
- What's wrong with television coverage of the MLB playoffs? (hardballtimes.com)
- The state of Nevada does not like the competition from daily fantasy sports sites. Bans them. (wsj.com)
Entertainment
- Tim Harford, "Copyright should last a more-than-generous 30 years, and no longer." (timharford.com)
- Why is Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie launching on a streaming service you have never heard of? (fastcompany.com)
- New media companies like Buzzfeed are now getting into television. (wsj.com)
- Eddie Murphy hasn't told a joke on stage in 28 years. (washingtonpost.com)
- Colin Hanks made a documentary about the late, great Tower Records. (blogs.wsj.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- What you may have missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: onion ownership. (abnormalreturns.com)
