Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a big profile of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
Quote of the Day
"In the 20th century, America built the most capable knowledge-producing institutions in human history. In the past decade, they got stupider en masse."
(Jonathan Haidt)
Books
- An excerpt from "8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape Our World" by Jennifer D. Sciubba. (theatlantic.com)
- An excerpt from Matthew Fray’s new book "This Is How Your Marriage Ends: A Hopeful Approach to Saving Relationships." (theatlantic.com)
- A Q&A with Nick Maggiulli author of "Just Keep Buying: Proven ways to save money and build your wealth." (abnormalreturns.com)
Philanthropy
- A profile of Mackenzie Scott and her unprecedented charitable giving. (nytimes.com)
- Mackenzie Scott's approach to philanthropy has attracted some criticism along the way. (fortune.com)
Ecosystems
- When humans enter, even small things can cause big changes in the ecosystem. (theatlantic.com)
- What happens when Airbnb ($ABNB) takes over an area? (nytimes.com)
Nature
- We spend much of our lives denying that we are animals. (eater.com)
- There's so much we don't know about fungi. (ft.com)
Longreads
- How the war in Ukraine completely derailed the move to wean the world off oil. (ft.com)
- Why America has gotten dumber and more dysfunctional over the past decade. (theatlantic.com)
- A look at what it takes to build a modern semiconductor manufacturing facility. (nytimes.com)
- Corporate venture capital can easily go wrong. What TDK Venture gets right. (readthegeneralist.com)
- Cold cases are getting the GoFundMe treatment to unearth genetic clues. (nytimes.com)
- Life advice from some New York City 'chess hustlers.' (annekadet.substack.com)
