Recommended Reading after a 4 month hiatus
Believe me, I was reading all the things. I just wasn't sending them to you.
On Consistency
First, I had such a backlog of articles that I knew I would need to send them to you in multiple installments. Then, I had so many articles that I thought I might organize a series of Recommended Reading publications by topic or theme. But then, the months continued to pass and I continued to add to that list of Very Interesting Things I Read, and again, never send out my Recommended Reading (due to That Thing Called Life).
So eventually I said - Fuck it. And here you have it - You will be receiving at least three very long Recommended Reading emails in the next few weeks, as I hope to get back on track with my second Sunday of the month or thereabouts Multitudinous Musings.
On Failure
In June, I was a guest on Lance Cottrell’s Feel the Boot Youtube Channel/Podcast. I met Lance through the Founder Institute when I was raising our Pre-Seed round for Play Out Apparel in 2021. I was grateful to be a guest on his show. We have kept in touch, and I truly value his support, feedback, and insights from his years of experience as an entrepreneur and investor. Another delay in sending out this newsletter was also, perhaps, my hesitation on deciding whether and how widely to share this interview - it is about failure, after all. Ultimately, I can only ever show up as myself, and I trust Lance and value our conversation here - so, here it is.
You can browse the rest of the Recommended Reading below.
On Reading
IN PRINT: Poor Charlie’s Almanack The Essential Wit & Wisdom of Charlie T. Munger edited by Peter D. Kaufman
Milongas by Edgardo Cozarinsky, Tr. Valerie Miles
The Blue Mimes by Sara Daniele Rivera
Fey Folk A tale from Skiathos by Alexandros Papadiamandis, Tr. David Connolly
WATCH: Why Do Baby Names Fall Out of Fashion? | Otherwords
INTERACTIVE: Analyzing my text messages with my ex-boyfriend by Teresa Ibarra
RECOMMENDED READING - Top of Mind
How to save culture from the algorithms, with Filterworld author Kyle Chayka / The author of Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture discusses how we might be able to cultivate our own tastes once more Nilay Patel (March 2024)
I never want to say that the algorithmic feed is a fundamentally horrible technology. I think it helps us a lot, and I think the internet has been really good for getting rid of a lot of gatekeeping. I grew up on that internet where I could publish anything. I can post on Instagram, and that’s how I’ve made my career, too. But I think we have to figure out what that balance is between human gatekeepers and human curators and this completely algorithmic, mathematically defined distribution mechanism that we have. There are advantages to both. The human gatekeeper, on one hand, can highlight a new voice, can bring up something that’s totally unusual, out of left field, and just say, “More people need to see or hear this.”
Whereas, the algorithmic feed is never going to take a thing… You have to get engagement to succeed in the algorithmic feed. You need to please 100 people, then 1,000 people, then 100,000 people, and that iterative process doesn’t work for all forms of culture. So I want to argue for this balance that we need to not just consume things that are algorithmically recommended, and we need to maybe bring back a little bit of the human curation and tastemaking that we’ve lost in this total dominance of algorithmic feeds.
A Brief, Inevitable Exchange Exploring the depths of human connection Billy Chew (May 2024)
How a 41-year-old former ad man birthed a $1.4 billion beverage unicorn by putting water in a can: ‘There’s no reason that only beer can have that kind of cool look and feel’ Sasha Rogelberg (March 2024)
A Year on Ozempic Taught Me We’re Thinking About Obesity All Wrong Reevaluating perceptions of obesity after using Ozempic Johann Hari (May 2024)
Want financial security in America? Better get married. Couples get hundreds of legal and economic privileges single people don’t. If that feels unfair, it’s because it is. Anna North (March 2024)
The Cloud Under the Sea The internet is carried around the world by hundreds of thousands of miles of slender cables that sit at the bottom of the ocean. These fragile wires are constantly breaking - a precarious system on which everything from banks to governments to TikTok depends. But thanks to a secretive global network of ships on standby, every broken cable is quickly fixed. This is the story of the people who repair the world’s most important infrastructure. Josh Dzieza (April 2024)
I Wanted To Be Kinky But I Didn’t Know How I needed to embrace a scary part of myself if I wanted to be sexually dominant “Mars the Father,” Eryn Sunnolia (April 2024)
NEWS / LONG-FORM JOURNALISM
“The Sin Is Greed”: The Making and Unmaking of the Black American Mecca
A century after the Harlem Renaissance, the famed Upper Manhattan neighborhood as we once knew it is dying a strange but predictable death at the hands of gentrification
Lex Pryor (March 2024)
Black Americans Are Collectively Assumed To Be Socially and Politically Liberal
The Black Feminism of Beyonce and Megan Thee Stallion helped me move beyond my socially conservative upbringing Jennifer Stewart (May 2024)
Last hours of an organ donor In the liminal time when the brain is dead but organs are kept alive, there is an urgent tenderness to medical care Ronald W Dworkin (May 2024)
The Man Who Couldn’t Stop Going to College Benjamin B. Bolger has spent his whole life amassing academic degrees. What can we learn from him? Joseph Bernstein (June 2024)
Secret in the walls: Hidden letters reveal love, lust, scandal in 1920s Baltimore society Tim Prudente and Stokely Baksh (May 2024)
The best non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beer taste-tested 2024 Henry Jeffreys – (January 2024)
Women aren’t tired of making the first move. They’re tired of dating apps. Exploring the exhaustion that comes with modern dating Jess Bacon (May 2024)
Opinion: My mother set herself on fire. Why do people choose to self-immolate? (April 2024)
Why France is finding vegan croissants hard to stomach Andrew Harding (May 2024)
Being a Mother Is Hard Work. Is It Actually Harder on Millennial Moms? Hannah Seligson (May 2024)
What I wish I’d known before my smartphone was snatched As phone theft surges, how can you protect your financial data? Clare Barrett (May 2024)
‘The truth was just too painful’: the highs and lows of Mama Cass The daughter of ‘Mama’ Cass Elliot has written a book to explore the tragically short life of her mother, from relentless fat-shaming to a myth about her death Jim Farber (May 2024)
First post: A history of online public messaging From BBS to Facebook, here's how messaging platforms have changed over the years. Jeremy Reimer (April 2024)
Inside the rise and fall of Ashley Madison: ‘People literally lost their lives’ A new Netflix docuseries explores how the site that enabled married people to have affairs devolved into chaos back in 2015 Adrian Horton (May 2024)
Millennials’ midlife crisis looks different from their parents’ sports cars and mistresses—it’s a ‘crisis of purpose and engagement’ Sydney Lake (May 2024)
1 million NYC households set to lose high-speed internet David Brand and Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky (May 2024)
Color or Fruit? On the Unlikely Etymology of “Orange” Yeah, But Can You Rhyme Something With It? David Scott Kastan with Stephen Farthing (July 2018)
BUSINESS / STARTUPS / INVESTING
They Thought They Were Joining an Accelerator Instead They Lost Their Startups The cautionary tale of a startup accelerator gone wrong Natasha Mascarenhas (May 2024)
What Makes for Successful Consumer Founders? We analyzed 100+ unicorns in hopes of debunking the generally accepted stereotypes surrounding what traits define successful consumer founders. The results might surprise you... Meera Clark (April 2024)
An appeals court rules that VC Fearless Fund cannot issue grants to Black women, but the fight continues Dominic-Madori Davis (June 2024)
Former Unicorns Are Bouncing Back From Bankruptcy Joanna Glasner (May 2024)
The Looking Glass: Holding Up the Mirror The what, why, how and art of giving and receiving feedback Julie Zhuo (May 2024)
In 35 years, I’ve seen a host of business leaders – the good ones all shared these qualities Helena Morrissey (May 2024)
We’ve analyzed 15 years of data for 200,000 founders and employees from the most successful tech companies ever built–and we’re certain a new boom in innovation is around the corner Martin Mignot (March 2024)
How Temu is shaking up the world of online shopping Sam Gruet (March 2024)
BRAIN / MIND / HEALTH
Polyvagal Theory and the Neurobiology of Connection: The Science of Rupture, Repair, and Reciprocity Maria Popova (May 2024)
Nostalgia hasn’t always been a tool for manipulating our emotions – it was once a medical condition Agnes Arnold-Forster (May 2024)
I Don’t Know How to Live if My Anorexia Dies Who am I without the illness I’ve always lived with? Billy Lezra (May 2024)
Should you take vitamin D? Here’s the science Some people take too much, and too many get too little. Experts explain who needs D supplements, and why. Katarina Zimmer (April 2024)
Do you have an inner monologue? Here’s what it reveals about you. While experts disagree on how common self-talk really is, they wholeheartedly agree that it’s a valuable tool for self-discovery. Karen Peterson (April 2024)
Why Are We Obsessed With Breasts? An interview with Sarah Thornton on societal fascination with breasts Alisha Hardisani Gupta (May 2024)
5 Lessons from a Conversation with a World-Renowned Happiness Expert Insights on happiness and well-being Sahil Bloom (April 2024)
Health Care Bias Is Dangerous. But So Are ‘Fairness’ Algorithms Medical systems disproportionately fail people of color, but a focus on fixing the numbers could lead to worse outcomes. Sandra Wachter, Brent Mittelstadt, Chris Russel (February 2023)
Ways to Spot an Introvert According to Psychology - Understanding the traits and behaviors of introverts Sarah Jones (July 2024)
She told her parents she was depressed and needed therapy. Their response is at the heart of her new book Harmeet Kaur (May 2024)
ART / LITERATURE
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: Uncommonly Lovely Invented Words for What We Feel but Cannot Name Maria Popova (April 2024)
7 Books to Help You Battle Burnout A guide to understanding burnout, from how to avoid it, to the toxic work cultures that cause it Ella Dawson (June 2024)
7 Subversive Novels About the Challenges of Life in the United Kingdom Kaliane Bradley recommends books that grapple with the chimera that is the experienced and imagined Britain Kaliane Bradley (May 2024)
7 Genre-Smashing Horror Novels in Translation - Discovering groundbreaking horror novels from around the world Lincoln Michel (April 2024)
This Year, Ask Yourself What Kind of Writer You Want to Be
Jami Attenberg's advice for starting a new project, making a choice, and tending to your creative self Jami Attenberg (January 2024)
Mothering and Writing Are Both Undervalued Labor, so How Do Women Do Both? Madeleine L'Engle showed me that being a mother artist is possible, but not easy Catherine Ricketts (April 2024)
One of the most unusual heists in America seems to be unfolding at Taco Bell
'They made it sound like they were talking about the Mona Lisa' Ariana Bindman (May 2024)
Inside the rise and fall of one of the world’s most powerful writing groups About the Romance Writers of America filing for bankruptcy, and what happened Christine Larson (June 2024)
FICTION / POETRY
ALL WRITING IS ABOUT DEATH “Death in Fiction” by Scott Cheshire, recommended by Halimah Marcus for Electric Literature (March 2024)
YOU CAN’T PLAN FEELINGS OUT OF A FOURSOME "Group Sex" by Elisa Faison, recommended by Wynter K Miller, Electric Literature (November 2023)
Poem of the Week: Ars Poetica XI by Mary Jean Chan - Exploring the depth and beauty of Mary Jean Chan’s poetry Carol Rumens (April 2024)
FILM / SCIENCE / OTHER / PERSONAL INTEREST / RANDOM
Psychological predictors of openness to sugar dating: Massive global study reveals key insights Eric W. Dolan (March 2024)
'Bless And Release' Is The Best Thing To Happen To Dating In A Long Time It's a little bit Southern and a little bit "Thank you, next." A guide to healthier dating habits Brittany Wong (April 2024)
The thousand-year-old mystery of the giant snake found in drawings across the world Archaeologists have discovered one of the world’s largest collections of ancient art David Keys (June 2024)
The new midlife crisis is hot, female and covered in tattoos – where do I sign? Emma Beddington (June 2024)
Finally, The Internet Found ‘The Backrooms’ Dani di Placido (May 2024)
From child star to 'Abbott,' Tyler James Williams pays it forward to the kids on set Tonya Mosley (May 2024)
Brandon Scott Jones, Star of Ghosts, Couldn’t Be Happier to Play Dead After years of stealing scenes in bit parts, the actor’s bringing delightful depth to the goofy Revolutionary War captain he plays on CBS’s hit sitcom. Hilary Busis (May 2024)
JoJo Siwa Warned Us About This - Reflecting on JoJo Siwa’s insights and warnings Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya (April 2024)
Kate Middleton and the End of Shared Reality Nothing is true and everything is possible. Charlie Warzel (March 2024)
On the Road with the Inexhaustable Princess Anne A glimpse into the busy schedule of Princess Anne Hannah Furness (May 2024)
Director Who Disowned Her Film in Order to Get an Oscar The journey of Amanda Nell Eu and her film Tiger Stripes Sian Cain (May 2024)
‘I’m a Blue, Whale I’m Here”: Researchers Listen with Delight to Songs That Hint at Antarctic Resurgence The resurgence of blue whale populations in Antarctic waters Graham Readfearn (May 2024)
Blunt, stunts and Gosling: how did The Fall Guy flop – and what does that mean for cinema? Catherine Shoard (May 2024)
I’ve joined the sisterhood of divorced women. We’re happier set free. Tove Danovich (April 2024)
How do you build tunnels and bridges underwater? A geotechnical engineer explains the construction tricks Ari Perez (June 2010)
‘The big story of the 21st century’: is this the most shocking documentary of the year? Six years in the making, jaw-dropping new film The Grab shows a secret scramble by governments and private firms to buy up global resources Adrian Horton (June 2024)