Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at the state of the Covid lab leak theory.
Quote of the Day
"Impatience keeps us on our toes; it drives us. But it also anesthetizes us, preventing us from living in the present. When you’re always rushing, as Bourdain was, you can’t enjoy what’s in front of you right now."
(Charles Dunst)
Books
- An excerpt from "The First Shots: The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccine" by Brendan Borrell. (esquire.com)
- A Q&A with Matthew Stewart author of "The 9.9 percent: The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture." (vox.com)
- An excerpt from Paul Bloom's book "The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning." (wsj.com)
- An excerpt from "The Elements of Choice: Why The Way We Decide Matters." by Eric Johnson (behavioralscientist.org)
Business
- Private equity has outgrown its original purpose. (ft.com)
- How the big chemical companies keep regulators and legal judgments at bay. (nytimes.com)
- How Amazon ($AMZN) preferences its in-house brands. (themarkup.org)
- Bots have taken over the collectible sneaker market. (nytimes.com)
Global
- Why Germans are uniquely interested in homeopathy. (bloomberg.com)
- Japan's yakuza are in retreat. What's happens to former members? (washingtonpost.com)
Profiles
- 50 years on, Paul McCartney is still enmeshed with the Beatles. (newyorker.com)
- A profile of everybody's favorite actor Dwayne Johnson. (vanityfair.com)
Longreads
- What people are saying about the Great Resignation. (buzzfeednews.com)
- The methamphetamine available today is very different than it was a decade ago. (theatlantic.com)
- What do people actually learn from those slick MasterClass courses? (newyorker.com)
- On the trend toward adopting embryos remaining from IVF treatments. (macleans.ca)
- Why we love horror movies. (aeon.co)
