Reading for the Week of 1/23/2022

Here is what I read this week. Some of the articles/posts may require a subscription to read them. I also share my recommended reads on Pocket for anyone who wants to follow along there.

Books

Finished

• We Are the Nerds: The Birth and Tumultuous Life of Reddit, the Internet’s Culture Laboratory by Christine Lagorio-Chafkin
• The Pleasure of Finding Things Out by Richard Feynman

Started

• The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro. I’ve been working my way through Caro’s magnum opus since 2019, when I read the first two volumes, The Path to Power and Means of Ascent. In 2020 I tackled Master of the Senate. These books are tough reads, not because of their length or content, but because of Johnson himself. Sometimes, he just infuriates me. I had the same reaction when I read Caro’s biography of Robert Moses, The Power Broker, in 2018. So I try to spread them out a bit.

Articles/posts

• The Hidden Resignation: Employees are checking out on the job by Krister Ungerböck (Business Insider, 1/17/22) #economics
• Why You Can’t Resist Wordle by Kyle Chayka (New Yorker, 1/20/2022). I’ve seen those Wordle grids popping up everywhere and wondered what it was all about. Article to the contrary, I have been able to resist–except for once, for rearch for a post coming out next week. #games
• Wordle Is a Love Story – The New York Times) by Daniel Victor (NY Times, 1/3/22) #games
• What Unites Buddhism and Psychotherapy? One Therapist Has the Answer by Oliver Burkeman (NY Time, 1/11/2022). I was curious about the review because I was impressed by Oliver Burkeman’s book 4,000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals #review
• Going Bananas for WW by Mike Dariano (The Waiter’s Pad, 1/24/2022)
• My New Winter Coat by Melanie Novak (blog, 1/24/2022). Where Melanie accidentally buys lots of books. #books
• How to Take Better Notes for Information Retention by Munda Zetlin (Inc, 9/5/19). This article is from a few years ago, but still interesting. #notes
• My Hall of Fame Ballot, Part I – JoeBlogs by Joe Posnanski (Substack, 1/24/22). Joe has a common-sense approach to his voting for the Hall of Fame. This series is his thoughtful look at the 30 players eligible this year. #baseball
• My Hall of Fame Ballot, Part II – JoeBlogs by Joe Posnanski (Substack, 1/25/22) #baseball
• My Hall of Fame Ballot, Part III – JoeBlogs by Joe Posnanski (Substack, 1/25/22) #baseball
• Opinion | We’re Probably in a Simulation. How Much Should That Worry Us? – The New York Times by Farhad Manjoo (NY Times, 1/26/22). I have a hard time seeing how Descartes cogito ergo sum doesn’t apply here. #philosophy
• Let’s Make a Deal – by Molly Knight – The Long Game by Molly Night (Substack, 1/26/22). Molly Knight on making the best of what we have in baseball today. #baseball
• David Ortiz! And Nobody Else! – JoeBlogs by Joe Posnanski (Substack, 1/25/22). I’ll have more to say about Ortiz and the Hall of Fame in a post next week. #baseball
• A Final Hall Thought – JoeBlogs by Joe Posnanski (Substack, 1/26/22) #baseball
• On life tenure, and its drawbacks – by James Fallows (Breaking the News, 1/26/22). A really interesting look at lifelong terms and jobs and the positive and negative effects of such terms. With suggestions for the Supreme Court. #politics
• Why Martha McPhee Carries a Notebook Everywhere | Wirecutter] by Martha McPhee] (NY Times, 4/3/2020). An older article, but new to me. You all know why I was attracted to this piece, right? #notebooks
• Can Medieval Sleeping Habits Fix America’s Insomnia? – The Atlantic by Derek Thompson (Atlantic, 1/27/22). I loved the historical aspects of this piece. #sleep
• Beach Sunrises and Thoughts on Publishing by Ailish Sinclair (blog, 1/28/22)
• The Very Long Novel That Saved a Man’s Sanity – Now I Know by Dan Lewis (Now I Know, 1/27/22). This is an all-too-real example of the question: “What book would you take with you if you were stranded on a desert island?” — where the desert island in this case is a prison. Hat tip to reader and correspondent Bill for pointing this one out to me. #books
• David Ortiz Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame – The New York Times by Tyler Kepler (NY Times, 1/25/22) #baseball
• American History Should Teach Reality by Editors of Scientific America (Scientific American, Feb. 2022) #truth-decay
• Stage Door (1937): #MeToo in the 1930s by Melanie Novak (blog, 1/26/2022) #movies #criticism
• ‘Say Souls Aboard’: How Professionals Sound Under Pressure by James Fallows (Breaking the News, 1/29/2022). Back when I was a pilot, I remember hearing one or two emergencies over the radio and recognize the calm professionalism that Fallows writes about. #aviation

Any recommendations for books, articles or posts I should read? Let me know in the comments?

Written on January 29, 2022.