5 Interesting Reads, 10/17/2021

Here are five more interesting reads I’ve come across recently.

1. “Essay: The digital death of collecting” by Kyle Chayka. A fascinating look at how digital media is killing the concept of “collections” as maintainable things under your control. (Fortunately, I looked at the bookshelves that surround me in my office after reading this and felt a sense of relief.)
2. “A Full Life” by Joe Posnanski. Remember Buck O’Neil fifteen years after his death.
3. “Grading MLB Umpires: Meet the Humans Behind the Twitter Bots that Track Balls and Strikes” by Stephen J. Nesbitt (in The Athletic). A fascinating piece on the perceptions and misperceptions of how well umpires perform when compared to objective measurements. H/T to my dad for calling this one to my attention.
4. “Stephen King takes us inside the process of writing Billy Summers” by Adrienne Westenfeld (in Esquire). An interesting interview with King where he discusses how his most recent novel came to be, and how he wrote it.
5. Minor Threat by Will Bardenwerpter (Harper’s, October 2021). A down-to-earth look at what MLB has done to the minor leagues.

If you’ve got any of your own interesting reads you want to share, drop them in the comments.