Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at why some cities thrive and others don’t.
Quote of the Day
"It is possible to win popularity and even power by inspiring contempt, but to align thousands or millions of people behind common goals, a leader needs to inspire trust."
(Adam Kirsch)
Books
- A Q&A with Joanna L. Cea, co-author of "Beloved Economies: Transforming How We Work." (annehelen.substack.com)
- A Q&A with Danield Pink author of "The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward." (behavioralscientist.org)
Business
- The FTC has bigger fish to fry than the Microsoft ($MSFT) deal for Activision Blizzard ($ATVI). (stratechery.com)
- How LiveNation ($LYV) came to dominate the live music business. (thehustle.co)
- Modern semiconductor manufacturing is a miracle. (generalist.com)
Health
- Why the new obesity drugs are a really big deal. (erictopol.substack.com)
- Is long Covid another example of 'functional neurological disorder'? (newrepublic.com)
- Researchers are questioning the cause of Alzheimer's disease. (quantamagazine.org)
Opioids
- How hidden fentanyl is driving a nationwide surge in opioid overdoses. (bloomberg.com)
- Drug cartels are increasingly using chemicals, not plants, to manufacture drugs. (washingtonpost.com)
- How U.S. prisons are using drugs to treat inmates with substance abuse disorder. (wsj.com)
Life is hard
- A Q&A with Kieran Setiya author of the new book "Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way." (nautil.us)
- Five insights from Kieran Setiya author of the new book "Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way." (nextbigideaclub.com)
Longreads
- Derek Thompson, "The U.S. remains the world’s R&D factory, but when it comes to building, we are plainly going backwards." (theatlantic.com)
- In a bull market, no one argues about the valuation of private assets. Then 2022 happened. (institutionalinvestor.com)
- How the pandemic disrupted our relationship with work. (city-journal.org)
- The world has a concrete problem. (noemamag.com)
- The circuitous path a book takes to hit the New York Times bestseller list. (esquire.com)
- How Lithuania is resisting China. (huffpost.com)
