Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at the unknown costs of our plastic consumption.
Quote of the Day
"Altogether, America has too much venting and not enough inventing."
(Derek Thompson)
Books
- A Q&A with Robbin Wigglesworth author of "Trillions: How a Band of Wall Street Renegades Invented the Index Fund and Changed Finance Forever." (fwpwealth.com)
- An excerpt from Dave Pell’s "Please Scream Inside Your Heart, Breaking News and Nervous Breakdowns in the Year That Wouldn’t End." (davepell.medium.com)
- An excerpt from "The Insect Crisis: the Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World" by Oliver Milman. (theguardian.com)
- An excerpt from Luke Burgis' book "WANTING: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life." (read.lukeburgis.com)
- A Q&A with Danielle Friedman author of "Let’s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World." (thecut.com)
Venture capital
- Bill Janeway, "Not only is capital not a strategy, but too much capital can eliminate the need for entrepreneurs and investors alike to have any strategy at all." (project-syndicate.org)
- A profile of Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital which invests in companies that can have an impact on humanity. (institutionalinvestor.com)
Profiles
- How Larry Fink, CEO of the world's largest money manager, became a lightning rod for criticism. (wsj.com)
- The story of how Jessica Simpson bought back her namesake clothing brand. (bloomberg.com)
- To understand this era in American life you are going to have to reckon with the story of J.D. Vance. (washingtonpost.com)
Dogs
- In the Texas legal system your dog isn't worth much. (texasmonthly.com)
- How Americans are learning to live with their pandemic puppies. (washingtonpost.com)
Sports
- You don't have to like baseball to like what Shohei Otani is doing. (gq.com)
- Outdoor events don't happen without port-a-potties. (espn.com)
Longreads
- The Beanie Baby craze was a textbook bubble. (vox.com)
- Local newspapers are dying. Non-profits in some cities are stepping in. (poynter.org)
- Noah Smith talks with Tyler Cowen on the end of the Great Stagnation and more. (noahpinion.substack.com)
- Online reputation cleaning has become a big business. (thewalrus.ca)
- Until we start designing with waste in mind, we won't solve the problem of the environment. (aeon.co)
