Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at OpenAI’s big ambitions.
Quote of the Day
"I don’t like calling things a ‘superpower’, but the ability to focus in a world conspiring to distract you might come close."
(Frederik Gieschen)
Books
- An excerpt from "Writing for Busy Readers" by Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink (behavioralscientist.org)
- An except from “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier” by Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey. (wsj.com)
- A Q&A with Jennifer Breheny Wallace author of "Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic - What We Can Do About It." (greatergood.berkeley.edu)
- An excerpt from "Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping The Future Of Our Planet" by Ben Goldfarb. (theatlantic.com)
- An excerpt from "Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet" by Taylor Lorenz. (rollingstone.com)
Housing
- How investor-owned single-family homes can transform a neighborhood. (indystar.com)
- The roadblocks from towns in the American West from building more homes. (businessinsider.com)
Grief
- How singer/songwriter Ben Kweller is dealing with unspeakable grief. (texasmonthly.com)
- Why a small town in Ireland has a memorial to 343 firefighters who died on 9/11. (nytimes.com)
- Vitaliy Katsenelson remembers his father. (vitaliy.substack.com)