Longform links: actual writing

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 how group chats became the final form of social media. Quote of the Day "Biological evolution is the slowest and most permanent form of learning, but it takes millennia; oral communication is like a context window, effective but lossy; actually writing things down is what made learning extendable and scalable." (Ben Thompson) Books - A look at "Data Empire: The Power of Information to Organize, Control, and Dominate" by Roopika Risam. (lareviewofbooks.org) - A Q&A with Francis Fukuyama author of “In the Realm of the Last Man: A Memoir.” (reuters.com) - An excerpt from "The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape From Afghanistan & Coming to America" by Rebecca Blumenstein and Dianna Kapp. (vanityfair.com) - An excerpt from "Sugar Coated: Unboxing the Hidden Forces Shaping America's Favorite Breakfast Food" by Mario Nestlend Lisa Sutherland (theatlantic.com) - An excerpt from "Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise and Fall of the Strokes (and Rock ’n’ Roll), by Steven Hyden. (theringer.com) Bonds - The world's governments are paying dramatically more in interest. (giftarticle.ft.com) - Derek Thompson talks with Liaquat Ahamed author of "1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World." (youtube.com) - An excerpt from “A Fabulous Debt: The Epic Story of How Bonds Built the Modern World” by Robin Wigglesworth. (giftarticle.ft.com) - Mary Childs talks bonds with Ed Al-Hussainy, portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle. (open.spotify.com) Finance - Hedge funds used to be a cottage industry. Now the largest hedge funds rival the big banks. (finance.yahoo.com) - A profile of Hudson River Trading co-founder Jason Carroll. (bloomberg.com) Longreads - Kyle Harrison, "Longevity is almost like a mindset. The minute a dynasty starts treating its age as evidence, the age starts working against it." (investing101.substack.com) - NIMBYism is wrapped up with worries about design and aesthetics. (worksinprogress.co) - Why Albanians turned against a luxury resort backed by Jared Kusher and Ivanka Trump. (slate.com) - Looked at over the very long run, democracy is still in ascendance. (ourworldindata.org) - How seaweed become a hot commodity. (nytimes.com) - AI could help us talk with animals. Should we? (bloomberg.com) - On the downsides of meditation. (theatlantic.com)