Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at why all new building seem to look the same.
Quote of the Day
"We retweet misinformation because we don’t think for long enough to see that it is misinformation."
(Tim Harford)
Book stuff
- An excerpt from Katy Milkman's new book "How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be" (behavioralscientist.org)
- An excerpt from "Test Gods: Virgin Galactic and the Making of a Modern Astronaut" by Nicholas Schmidle. (gq.com)
- An excerpt from John McWorther's new book "Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now and Forever." (theatlantic.com)
- An excerpt from "The Optimist: The Case for the Fly Fishing Life" by David Coggins. (lithub.com)
Media
- Entertainment consumers today want 'more' and the companies are there to provide it. (matthewball.vc)
- Cable news networks are wrestling with a post-Trump era. (vanityfair.com)
- Media companies are going to have to reckon with their stars being able to go solo. (medialyte.xyz)
- The (big) economics of movie product placement. (thehustle.co)
Finance
- You can't talk about the SPAC boom without mentioning Chamath Palihapitiya. (bloomberg.com)
- SIx reasons why two-thirds of startups don't show a positive return. (hbr.org)
Carbon
- Mining lithium is a dirty business, but a green energy revolution needs it. (nytimes.com)
- It's hard not to be cynical about the market for carbon credits. (technologyreview.com)
Longreads
- The role of the 1918 Spanish Flu may be exaggerated when it comes to the subsequent Roaring 20's. (smithsonianmag.com)
- Virginia Postrel, "The new luxury materials are grown, not extracted. It’s a much gentler-sounding process." (bloomberg.com)
- Researchers are honing in on how pregnancy changes a woman's body forever. (smithsonianmag.com)
- Colleges have lost the plot. (theatlantic.com)
