Saturdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at what it is like to go through Army Ranger school.
Quote of the Day
“You’re not going to stop outbreaks from happening. But you can stop outbreaks from becoming epidemics or pandemics.”
(Beth Cameron)
Books
- A Q&A with Steven Sinofsky author of "Hardcore Software: Inside the Rise and Fall of the PC Revolution." (fastcompany.com)
- An excerpt from Bill Buford's new book "Dirt: Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of French Cooking." (eater.com)
- A Q&A with psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman author of "Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization." (behavioralscientist.org)
Sports
- Peyton Manning may be long retired from the NFL but he still holds sway around the league. (bleacherreport.com)
- What NFL offensive linemen have to do to keep the weight on, not off. (theringer.com)
- Donald Trump says he was good enough to play professional baseball. What does the record say? (slate.com)
Pandemic psychology
- The many ways in which your brain was not designed to deal with an invisible threat like the coronavirus. (thewalrus.ca)
- Hugh Gusterson, "Humans are not so good at being aware of more abstract threats, even though they are often far more serious." (ft.com)
Longreads
- The federal government has abdicated its role in fighting the pandemic. (nymag.com)
- Five lessons from history including: "People suffering from sudden, unexpected hardship are likely to adopt views they previously thought unthinkable." (collaborativefund.com)
- A profile of former Google ($GOOGL) CEO Eric Schmidt who has reinvented himself into a liason between the military and Silicon Valley. (nytimes.com)
- Ben Bebenroth had built a small food empire in Cleveland, and then the coronavirus hit. (wsj.com)
- A firsthand account of a cyclist surviving a hit and run. (outsideonline.com)