Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. Wherever possible, free links for premium sites are used. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a recounting of a trip on Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas.
Quote of the Day
"Free is always a fake price. Free means someone else is paying, or you’re paying and just haven’t figured out how. “Free Shipping” is never free."
(Dave Nadig)
Books
- An excerpt from "Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters" by Brian Klaas. (behavioralscientist.org)
- An excerpt from "The Age of Grievance" by Frank Bruni. (theatlantic.com)
- A Q&A with Erin A. Cech author of "The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality." (annehelen.substack.com)
- An excerpt from "Alpine Rising: Sherpas, Baltis, and the Triumph of Local Climbers in the Greater Ranges" by Bernadette McDonald. (thewalrus.ca)
- An excerpt from "Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show" by Tommy Tomlinson. (theatlantic.com)
Longreads
- Don't hype up your product unless you really have the goods. (sandofsky.com)
- AI isn't worthless. But is it worth it? (citationneeded.news)
- No single factor helps explains California's economic success. (asteriskmag.com)
- People have been warning about housing China for years. The reckoning is here. (wsj.com)
- How practical is it to move solar power across undersea cables? (bloomberg.com)
- What really happens when you recycle your iPhone through Apple ($AAPL). (bloomberg.com)
- How big an effect did the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone really have? (nytimes.com)