Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a profile of chef José Andrés and World Central Kitchen.
Quote of the Day
"Can you imagine a more important change than one in the relationship between intellectual curiosity and money? These are two of the most powerful forces in the world, and in my lifetime they've become significantly more aligned."
(Paul Graham)
Books
- A Q&A with Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling author of "A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate An American Town (And Some Bears)." (vox.com)
- Tyler Cowen talks with John Brennan author of "Undaunted: My Fight Against America's Enemies, At Home and Abroad." (medium.com)
Business
- The biggest businesses in the U.S. were better positioned for a pandemic economy. (washingtonpost.com)
- Index providers have become central actors in the economy. (nathantankus.substack.com)
- Why 2020 was a turning point for U.S. manufacturing. (wsj.com)
Social+
- The best companies in the future, no matter the category, are going to be built around social. (a16z.com)
- The new social media platforms have a very different ask of users. (stratechery.com)
Science
- How science beat the novel coroanvirus with an effective vaccine is less than a year. (theatlantic.com)
- We've known about biophages for a long time. In the age of antibiotic resistance they are making a comeback. (newyorker.com)
- You've probably heard of graphene but now it is making its way into everyday products. (fortune.com)
Longreads
- Softbank-backed Compass wants to change the real estate brokerage business - it has no shortage of skeptics. (marker.medium.com)
- Electric vehicles need lithium batteries. However mining lithium is anything but green. (theguardian.com)
- Are we already oversanitizing indoor spaces? (bloomberg.com)
- Even in the Internet age the advice column still shines. (studyhall.xyz)
- A profile of writer Jeffrey Toobin, post-Zoom incident. (nytimes.com)
