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 look at falling death rates from cardiovascular disease.
Quote of the Day
"The innovation and brainpower have to go somewhere, and the rest of the world is making our brain drain their gain."
(Dave Holmes)
Books
- A Q&A with Melody Glenn, MD author of "Mother of Methadone: A Doctor's Quest, a Forgotten History, and a Modern-Day Crisis." (annehelen.substack.com)
- An excerpt from “SWAP: A Secret History of the New Cold War,” by Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson. (wsj.com)
- An excerpt from Tim Lomas’ book "Translating Happiness: A Cross-Cultural Lexicon of Well-Being." (thereader.mitpress.mit.edu)
Business
- A deep dive into the history of Novo Nordisk ($NVO). (quartr.com)
- America needs its own homegrown Taiwan Semi ($TSM). (research.contrary.com)
- How Shopee came to dominate Southeast Asian e-commerce. (bloomberg.com)
- How (dog) doodles became a big business. (bloomberg.com)
Food
- Chili's was once a punchline. Now it leads the category. (slate.com)
- How wild Alaskan salmon go from net to plate. (foodandwine.com)
Longreads
- 2025 is not the first time that Americans felt the world was changing so fast. (derekthompson.org)
- After a natural disaster, few means of communication remain. (nytimes.com)
- Canada legalized euthanasia. What came next. (theatlantic.com)
- How Rick Perry became a passionate advocate for ibogaine therapy. (nytimes.com)
- How AI could affect nuclear deterrence. (foreignaffairs.com)
- From a long career, lessons on how to deal with *ssholes. (bobpisani.substack.com)
- The death of late night television means the end of one our last communal experiences. (hollywoodreporter.com)
