My Personal Canon of Essays
Articles I keep referring to
Life
The Waiting Place
The most destructive thing smart people do is spend their lives waiting.
The Four Stages Of Rest
Silly projects, and other stages of recovery from burnout.
How Not To Say The Wrong Thing
The Ring Theory of grief and comfort.
Failures Of Kindness
George Saunders’ commencement speech.
Relationships
13 Questions to Ask Before Getting Married
Things I wish I remembered to ask in any relationship.
Deep Dating
Treating every date like it’s the only one you’ll ever have.
Non-sexual Forms of Intimacy
List of intimate activities that do not involve sex.
You Should Have Asked
How women end up bearing the mental load of the household.
Society
A Traditional City Primer
On urban planning, human scaled cities, and sense of place.
Welcome to AirSpace
How all hipster cafes around the world look the same.
Premium Mediocre
Premium mediocre is the finest bottle of wine at Olive Garden.
How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation
Burnout is not a disease but a symptom of labour crisis.
Culture
The Song Machine
How hits get made.
Hear That Long Snake Moan
Jazz, Rock ‘n Roll, and Haitian Voodoo.
The Pitch Meeting For The Animaniacs
The delicious insanity of The Animaniacs ever getting produced.
The Question Of Cultural Appropriation
It’s more helpful to think about exploitation and disrespect than to define cultural “ownership”.
City of Villains
Why neither the (Batman) vigilantes, nor the (playboy) millionaires of society are your friend. Further reading on Batman’s politics: Twitter thread.
Science
Do Elephants Have Souls?
On the evidence for non-human intelligence, awareness, and emotion.
The Multivitamin myth
Vitamin C won’t help your cold.
The Food Lab: The Science of the Best Chocolate Chip
Kenji Lopez-Alt tries a 100 permutations of the chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Literature
The Analytical Language of John Wilkins
Borges on the beauty and futility of taxonomy.
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas
On the Faustian bargain of societal happiness.
I Identify As An Attack Helicoper
Short science fiction story on (the weaponisation of) gender.
Work
Cities and Ambition
The message that different cities send.
Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed
The real reason for the forty-hour workweek.
A Manager’s FAQ
How to be a better manager.
America
The American Dream Is Killing Us
The values and beliefs that once defined the American Dream are not only no longer relevant, but they may be hurting us.
The Water-Park Scandal and Two Americas in the Raw
Are we a nation of line-cutters, or are we the line?
I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care about other people
Our disagreement is not merely political, but a fundamental divide on what it means to live in a society.
The Burning Desire for Hot Chicken
On the great relief of succumbing.
