Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at why the world is entering a new age driven by green energy solutions.
Quote of the Day
"It's easier now to start and grow a company than it has ever been. That means more people start them, that those who do get better terms from investors, and that the resulting companies become more valuable."
(Paul Graham)
Book excerpts
- An excerpt from "Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life" by William Green. (barrons.com)
- A Q&A with Julia Galef author of "The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't." (noahpinion.substack.com)
- A Q&A with Michael Mann author of "The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet." (behavioralscientist.org)
- A Q&A with Laurie Woolever co-author, with the late Anthony Bourdain, of "World Travel: An Irreverent Guide." (esquire.com)
- An excerpt from "How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World" by Henry Mance. (ft.com)
Investing
- A big profile of activist short-seller Carson Block of Muddy Waters Research. (institutionalinvestor.com)
- In the pre-Internet era, the Beardstown Ladies investment club were big celebrities. (thehustle.co)
Technology
- Why the global chip shortage isn't going away. (wsj.com)
- North Korea keeps its citizens off the Internet, but has an army of hackers wreaking havoc around the world. (newyorker.com)
- NFTs may not solve the problem they claim to. (slate.com)
Longreads
- How it is that U.S. airlines haven't experienced a fatal crash in over 12 years. (wsj.com)
- We can do a lot better than Elon Musk as a model thinker or role model. (currentaffairs.org)
- Why McDonald's ($MCD) temperamental ice cream machines are so controversial. (wired.com)
- Want to reduce homelessness? Give people a place to live. (nytimes.com)
- The 'great Covid migration' has likely changed the Lake Tahoe basin forever. (outsideonline.com)
- If you think of Seth Rogen as just an actor you are missing a big part of the picture. (nytimes.com)