Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at how Twitter went so wrong under Elon Musk.
Quote of the Day
"The data show it, but so does the general mood: Men find themselves lonely, depressed, anxious and directionless."
(Christine Emba)
Books
- David Epstein talks with Dr. Anupam Jena, co-author of "Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health." (davidepstein.substack.com)
- An excerpt from "Nobody’s Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do about It" by Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris. (behavioralscientist.org)
Technology
- How the Y Combinator flywheel came to be. (tonykulesa.com)
- Is AI going to end the long fall in compute costs? (every.to)
- Stablecoins are the killer crypto app. (generalist.com)
Sports
- ACL injuries are shockingly common for female soccer players. (wapo.st)
- Amateurism in college sports was always a myth. (theatlantic.com)
- What the surfing scene is like around Milwaukee. (milwaukeemag.com)
Entertainment
- Why the Hollywood strikes are different this time around. There is a whole other set of content creators. (stratechery.com)
- Martin Brest was one of the most successful movie directors of the 1980s and 90s. Why he walked (or was pushed) away. (variety.com)
- Tom Cruise has successfully dodged the press for a decade now. (nytimes.com)
Business
- Why building a viable durable goods company is challenging. (thediff.co)
- Falling sperm counts are spawning a whole new industry. (nymag.com)
- How a former NFL player became a Pokemon card mogul. (theathletic.com)
Longreads
- Big chunks of Ukraine are unlikely to be repopulated. (nytimes.com)
- How the home remodeling industry makes you feel miserable. (annehelen.substack.com)
- Red Cross lifeguard certification has a fraud problem. (washingtonpost.com)
- Grizzly bears are wandering even farther afield and bumping into humans more often. (hcn.org)
- How will future biographers handle all the digital documents at their disposal? (daily.jstor.org)
