Newsletter Archive
Monday Musings
10/3/22 – 28 Pieces of Life Advice
9/19/22 – Why Do We Teach Like This?
9/12/22 – Our Vision for Write of Passage
9/5/22 – How I’d Change the Internet
8/29/22 – Mr. Beast’s Obsession
8/15/22 – Working in Alignment
8/8/22 – Strong Beliefs about Writing
7/25/22 – Why Writing Became Sterile
7/11/22 – Why Logos Look the Same
7/4/22 – Why Daily News is Bogus
6/27/22 – The Great Flattening
6/20/22 – What’s Up with Austin?
6/13/22 – The Paradox of Abundance
6/6/22 — Celebrities, Girard, Ads
5/30/22 — The Craziest Hiring Decision I’ve Ever Made
5/23/22 — The City-Country Spectrum
5/16/22 — Imitate, then Innovate, Paris Whispers, Cultural Patterns
5/09/22 — Purpose, Ownership, Architecture
5/02/22 — Learn Like an Athlete
4/25/22 — The Pilot and the Photographer
4/18/22 — The Book You Need to Read
4/11/22 — Dollar Bills, Entrepreneurship, Speed, Golf
3/28/22 — Maslow, Religion, Nietzche, Blurry Images
3/21/22 — Status, Discipline, Community, Bars, Politics
3/14/22 —Notes, Batman, Apple, Bible
3/07/22 — Logic, Biographies, Art, Clear Writing
2/28/22 — Sushi, Taste, Compliments, Van Gogh
2/21/22 — LBJ, Psychology, Shuhari, Authority, Science
2/14/22 — Books, Thiel, Fear, Prisons, Austin
2/7/22 — Launch, Beauty, Business, Friendship, Poker
1/31/22 — Feynman, Girard, Quality, Profit
1/24/22 — Abundance, Paul Graham, The Beatles, Girard)
1/17/22 — Travel, Sketching, Ireland, London, Olympics
1/10/22 — Cults, Censorship, Bathrooms, Kendrick Lamar
1/03/22 — Stripe, Robinhood, Conspiracies, Annual Review
12/27/21 — 3x Speed, Golf, Twitter, Agency
12/20/21 — Secrets, Thiel, Abundance, Passion, School
12/13/21 — Steve Jobs, Paradoxes, Gifts, Consensus, Delegating
12/06/21 — Maps, Insanity, Debate, Founders, Montreal
11/29/21 — Disney, Prestige, Report Card, Teaching
11/15/21 — Philosophy, Publishing, Money, Montreal
11/08/21 — Dallas, Learning, Football, Beer, Cars
11/01/21 — Wine, Buffett, Hourglass, Audiobooks, Photography
10/25/21 — News, Serendipity, Statistics, Racing, Teachers
10/18/21 — Fear, Media, Truth, Status, Prestige
10/11/21 — Music, Metaverse, Hustlers, Poets, Post-It Notes
10/4/21 — Christianity, Meditation, Perfectionism, Aircraft Carriers
9/27/21 — Birthdays, Commitment, Learning, Classics
9/20/21 — Swimming, Excellence, Parenting, Fun, BBQ
9/13/21 — Growing Up, Schooling, Class Sizes, Jeff Bezos, Ambition
9/6/21 — The Stupid Test, School, Holland, Cities, Peter Thiel
8/30/21 — Oysters, Learning, Beer, Coffee, Music
8/23/21 — McDonalds, Football, Fish, Old Books
8/16/21 — Podcast, Comedians, Wright Brothers, Sherlock Holmes, James Clear
8/9/21 — Ideas, Arizona, Storytelling, Housel, Biographies
8/2/21 — Total Recall, Grants, Radical Roots
7/26/21 — McConaughey, Principles, Jokes, Comedy, Da Vinci
7/19/21 — Liberal Arts, David Lynch, Richard Feynman
7/12/21 — Teaching, Creativity, Fitness, and Free Will
7/5/21 — Mexico, Bezos, Popularity, Great Books
6/28/21 — Mexico, Cooking, Lions, Instinct
6/21/21 — Learning, Rugs, Mezcal, Note-Taking
6/14/21 — Mexico, Pixar, Languages, Storytelling
6/7/21 — Philosophy, Editing, Customs, Fashion, Entrepreneurship
5/31/21 — Books, Grace, Nature, Disabilities
5/24/21 — Write like a Painter, Open Book Tests, Genetic Fundamentalism
5/17/21 — Bertrand Russell, Laughter, Self-Driving Cars
5/10/21 — Age-Segmented Education, Beautiful Buildings, Library Literacy
5/3/21 — The Simpsons, Andre Agassi, Dragon Blood Trees
4/26/21 — Surprising Analogies, Netflix, Crypto Wealth
4/19/21 — Psychology Class, SAT Tests, How Bill Gates Thinks
4/12/21 — Hotel Bathroom Principle, William James, The Penny Gap
4/5/21 — Creative Intuition, Fractals, Urban Housing
3/29/21 — Entrepreneurship, REM Sleep, Greatness is Mundane
3/22/21 — Niche Fame, the Paradox of Management, Hallgrímskirkja
3/15/21 — Second-Order Effects of NFTs, Sabbaticals, The Uncanny Valley
3/8/21 — The Hall of Prisoners, Online Education, Deceptive Morality
3/1/21 — But & Therefore, Facebook’s Little Red Book, European Path Dependence
2/22/21 — How to Hedge your Writing, Langar, Kansas City Library
2/15/21 — The Thanksgiving Test, Physics Envy, Skating on Ice
2/8/21 — Secret First Gigs, Paradoxes, Intellectual Fashion
2/1/21 — Secret Societies, Logo Patterns, Texas Hitchhiking
1/25/21 — Pseudonymous Influencers, Art Deco, Schizophrenia
1/18/21 — Jerry Seinfeld, Einstein, Amazon’s Algorithm
1/11/21 — Specialization, Monday Musings Challenge, Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana
1/04/21 — Immoral Work, Elon Musk, Banksy
12/28/20 — Seeing Through Water, Conversations, Cities in Snow
12/21/20 — Punctuation, Calvin & Hobbes, Gutenberg Parenthesis
12/14/20 — Clocks, Jeff Bezos, Cruise Ships
12/07/20 — Moon Migrations, Tattoos, Frederick Olmsted
11/30/20 — Pace Layers, Bounded Rationality, Dogs & Attractiveness
11/23/20 — Etymologies, Cassandra, The Course of Empire
11/16/20 — Customer Service, Hippie Aesthetic, Scale
11/09/20 — Tocqueville Effect, Thinkism, Dmitri Cavander
11/2/20 — Amish Tech, Goldsboro B-52 Crash, Mining
10/26/20 — Toyota, Rafaelle Monti, Elite Overproduction
10/19/20 — Chick-fil-A, Sola Scriptura, Ansel Adams
10/12/20 — Beyoncé, LeBron James, Edward Hopper
10/5/20 — Otium, Casey Neistat, Porcelain Factory
9/28/20 — Feynman, Women in Government, Second Constitution
9/21/20 — The Oculus, Plato, Tajima
9/14/20 — Zuihitsu, MLK, Monet
9/7/20 — Oliver Sacks, Elon Musk, Beards
8/31/20 — NASCAR, Etymology, Bahá’í Temples
8/24/20 — Wine, Keystones, Norman Doors
8/17/20 — Polymaths, Wayne Forte, Plato
8/10/20 — Control Hueristic, Prohibition, Buckminster Fuller
8/3/20 — Pollution, Beautiful Questions, Children
7/27/20 — Bixby Creek Bridge, South Park, Knife Theory
7/20/20 — Summary Box, Netflix Brain, Fight Club
7/13/20 — Fame, Airforce One, Boston Cows
7/6/20 — Orwell, Sprezzatura, Gold Performance
6/29/20 — English Origins, Genius, Delegation
6/22/20 — Model T’s, Buffet Lines, Up-Market
6/15/20 — Inspiration, Cities, Shadows
6/8/20 — Humor, Apollo 8, Grade Inflation
6/1/20 — Longevity, Contrarians, Hitchen’s Razor
5/25/20 — Twins, Curves, Sabotage
5/18/20 — Billionaires, eCommerce, Dating
5/11/20 — Logos, Guggenheim, Pablum
5/4/20 — Storytelling, Instagram, Hard Drives
4/27/20 — Online Education, Animals, Breathing
4/20/20 — Planck’s Principle, Buzzfeed, Maps
4/13/20 — Modern Music, Cigarettes, Portraits
4/6/20 — Heroes, CLEAR Sentences, Baldwin Street
3/30/20 — Teams that Ship, DNA, San Francisco
3/23/20 — Civilization, Goodhart’s Law, Fun Definitions
3/16/20 — Diego Rivera, Education Trends, New York
3/9/20 — Edward Hopper, Panera, Shibusumi Paint
3/2/20 — Airplanes, Orange Light, Trains Through Cities
2/24/20 — Not Average Design, Warren Buffet, Monet
2/17/20 — Man in the Arena, Rappers, Islamic Architecture
2/10/20 — Tatlin’s Tower, Edict of Milan, Nassim Taleb
2/3/20 — Thiel’s Paradoxes, Josh Wolfe, Sunlight
1/27/20 — Kobe Bryant, One Big Idea, Unions
1/20/20 — Coachella, Coffee, Happiness
1/13/20 — Writing Wisdom, American Logistics, God
1/6/20 — Outsourcing, Breweries, Tradition
Friday Finds
4/8/22 — Numbers, Tiger Woods, Augusta National
4/1/22 — Singapore, Philosophy, Horses, Diet, Family
3/25/22 — Commitment, Christianity, Parliament, Human Rights
3/18/22 — Girard, Architecture, Malcolm X, MKBHD, Marriage
3/11/22 — Mr. Beast, America, Bezos, Oil
3/04/22 — Palantir, Amazon, Hayek, Philosophy, Liberalism
2/25/22 — School, Sleep, Feynman, Homes, Design
2/18/22 — Gin, Imitation, Scruton, Internet, Science
2/11/22 — Music, Whiplash, Movies, Bible, Books
2/4/22 — Netflix, Marx, Writing, Astrophysics
1/28/22 — School, YouTube, McLuhan, Wagner, Girard
1/21/22 — Career, Paul Graham, Propaganda, Art, Philosophy
1/14/22 — Poetry, Ireland, Music, Censorship
1/07/22 — JFK, Fitness, China, Music, Envy
12/31/21 — Kanye, Breath, Dreams, Beethoven, Speed
12/24/21 — Bible, Perplexed, Love, Prestige, Automation
12/17/21 — CIA, Airlines, Beauty, Thiel, Philosophy
12/10/21 — Montreal, War, Thought Police, Winners, Companies
12/3/21 — Ideas, Sperm, Education, Divinity, Aquinas
11/26/21 — Kobe, Jesus, Snapchat, Dying, Eleusis
11/19/21 — Logic, Messaging, Cities, Mumford
11/12/21 — Trader Joe’s, School, Crafts, Kanye, Philosophers
11/5/21 — Twitter, Warren Buffet, Uniqlo, Vibes, Learning
10/29/21 — Kanye, Gin, Christianity, YouTube, Urbit
10/22/21 — Cars, China, Prestige, Selfies, New York
10/15/21 — Facts, Family, Narratives, Comedy, Supply Chains
10/8/21 — Logic, Pinker, Science, Sears, Iliad
10/1/21 — Thiel, Pinker, Chomsky, Speed, Business
9/24/21 — Narratives, Education, Investing, Golf, Biology
9/17/21 — Simpsons, Boeing, Urbanism, Technology, Friendship
9/10/21 — Economics, Obesity, Silicon Valley, Fashion
9/03/21 — Philosophy, Sowell, Death, Health, Taylor Swift
8/27/21 — Sociology, Marx, Christianity, McDonalds, Taleb
8/20/21 — Madonna, Painting, Oil, History, Documentaries
8/13/21 — Wright Brothers, Time, Beer, Coffee, Creative Careers
8/6/21 — Lifting, China, War, Federer
7/30/21 — Magic, René Girard, Quentin Tarantino, Da Vinci
7/23/21 — McConaughey, Music, Genius, Tech, Documentaries
7/16/21 — Movies, Eminem, Beauty
7/09/21 — J.Cole, Bezos, Philosophy, Construction, and Beauty
7/02/21 — Seinfeld, Bezos, Accomplishment, Bodybuilding
6/25/21 — Taylor Swift, Golf, Writing, Demographics, Schwarzenegger
6/18/21 — Pixar, Taylor Swift, Geography, England
6/11/21 — Time, Propaganda, Nietzsche, Freedom
6/4/21 — Tribes, Philosophy, Tattoos, Alcohol, Geopolitics
5/28/21 — Shantaram, Free Parking, Private Life
5/21/21 — Stripe, Dishwashers, Tiger Woods & Collin Morikawa
5/14/21 — Steve Jobs Tribute, Politics & Pro Wrestling, Debt
5/7/21 — Human Rights, The Most Unruly, Pepsi’s Military
4/30/21 — The Master Switch, Pop Music, Letters to a Young Poet
4/23/21 — Munda and Modia, CodeMiko, Devon Zuegal
4/16/21 — Working Backwards, Parasite, Behind the Curtain
4/9/21 — Golf’s Holy War, Christopher Hitchens, Oil Industry Propaganda
4/2/21 — Kendrick Lamar, Thomas Aquinas, Einstein’s Dreams
3/26/21 — John Cleese, Fallen Leaves, The Courage to be Disliked
3/19/21 — Venkatesh Rao, Martin Gurri, How to Take Smart Notes
3/12/21 — Carl Schmitt, Patrick Collison, Gut Feelings
3/5/21 — Dominion, Adam Curtis, Rethinking Economics
2/26/21 — Human Nature, McDonald’s, Daft Punk
2/19/21 — David Foster Wallace, Ava, Land of the Free
2/12/21 — Manufacturing Intellect, Ken Burns, Paris Review Interviews
2/5/21 — MKBHD, Neil Gaiman, TV Tropes
1/29/21 — Chomsky, Chartism, Mr. Beast
1/22/21 — Matthew McConaughey, Soulcraft, Uniqlo
1/15/21 — Ivan Illich, Gardens, Marshal McCluhan
1/08/21 — Theory of Leisure Class, Rolf Degen, Geopolitics of Oil
1/01/21 — Beauty, LSD, The Shock of the New
12/25/20 — The Imitation of Christ, Heschel, Beauty
12/18/20 — Chess Masters, Human Misjudgment, New Old Homes
12/11/20 — Elite Education, Wagner, the Tyranny of Numbers
12/4/20 — Richard Feynman, Epic Schools, Malcolm X
11/27/20 — Zena Hitz, British Working Class, 99% Invisible
11/20/20 — Aristotle, Private Life, Peter Thiel
11/13/20 — Fallibalism, Robert Pirsig, the Enlightenment
11/6/20 — Distill, Building in Singapore, Nick Yoder
10/30/20 — Scholar’s Stage, Ngram Viewer, James Turrell
10/23/20 — Sears, Loneliness & Totalitarianism, David Whyte
10/16/20 — Preference Falsification, Mimetic Traps, Sabbath
10/9/20 — Bruno Cucinelli, Oswald Spengler, Lee Kuan Yew
10/2/20 — McLuhan Galaxy, Frequent Flyers, Michael Nielsen
9/25/20 — WEIRD Societies, Burger King, Short Introductions
9/18/20 — 3Blue1Brown, Athlete Tattoos, Ted Polhemus
9/11/20 — Plato, Justin Lehr, K-Pop
9/4/20 — Elena Shalneva, Mary Oliver, Starbucks
8/28/20 — Music, Palantir, Christianity
8/21/20 — David McCollough, Post Office, Academy of Ideas
8/14/20 — Liberal Arts, Plato, WhisperSync
8/7/20 — Thomas Sowell, Pouring Concrete, Uniqlo
7/31/20 — David Whyte, Envy, Zuckerberg
7/24/20 — Optimism, George Soros, Bryson DeChambeau
7/17/20 — Oprah, Knausgård, Saudi Armaco
7/10/20 — American Geopolitics, Idleness, Netflix
7/3/20 — Long-Haul Trucking, Instagram, Tradition
6/26/20 — Paul Graham, Farnsworth, Goodreads
6/19/20 — Kevin Kwok, Superforecasting, Startup School
6/12/20 — JUMP, Johnathan Bi, David Foster Wallace
6/5/20 — Smart Notes, Plague, Robert Sapolsky
5/29/20 — Stoicism, Basecamp, Nassim Taleb
5/22/20 — OkCupid, Seth Godin, Corporation History
5/15/20 — Conversation Tools, Horse Races, Criterion Collection
5/8/20 — David Harvey, TV Tropes, Horseshoe Theory
5/1/20 — Jacobin Magazine, Beauty, Breaking Smart
4/24/20 — Cuck Philosophy, Jose Ricon, Great Assistant
4/17/20 — Moral Equivalents, Eric Weinstein, Seeking Wisdom
4/10/20 — David Cole, Will Durant, Generic Drugs
4/3/20 — Aaron Lewis, Note-Taking, A Very Short Introduction
3/27/20 — Nicky Case, Jack Butcher, Minerva
3/20/20 — The Nuclear Family, Open, Justin Murphy
3/13/20 — 3Blue1Brown, Childhood, Based Deleuze
3/6/20 — Rich Barton, Stripe, David Ebert
2/28/20 — CO2, Amazon’s Great Courses, Leisure
2/21/20 — David Whyte, Bar Talk, The Liquid Self
2/14/20 — John David Ebert, Mushrooms, Interfluidity
2/7/20 — Singapore, Greatness, Mimetic Theory
1/24/20 — Apple, Roger Scruton, Peace of Westphalia
1/17/20 — Great Assistant, Michael Polanyi, Robert Cottrell
1/10/20 — Andrew Batson, Carlota Perez, Entrepreneurship Hacks
