Welcome to October! The weekend is here, so pour yourself a mug of Porto Rico Import coffee, grab a seat on the sofa, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• The Great Bluff: How the Ukrainians Outwitted Putin’s Army: Russia’s army was thought to be vastly superior. But Ukraine has nevertheless managed to secure an almost unbelievable coup, taking back huge swaths of territory in the northeast. Can Ukraine actually win? (Spiegel)
• New York City’s Empty Offices Reveal a Global Property Dilemma: In the heart of midtown Manhattan lies a multibillion-dollar problem for building owners, the city and thousands of workers. Blocks of decades-old office towers sit partially empty, in an awkward position: too outdated to attract tenants seeking the latest amenities, too new to be demolished or converted for another purpose. The rise of remote work is hurting older buildings, leaving landlords in the lurch. • New York City’s Empty Offices Reveal a Global Property Dilemma: The rise of remote work will hurt older buildings, leaving landlords in the lurch (Bloomberg)
• Boaz Weinstein Reveals the Secret Trade That Helped Make Him Famous: The Saba Capital Management founder talks about the little-known deal that showed him how to take on JPMorgan’s chief investment office, and describes the new opportunities he’s finding in today’s credit market upheaval. (Bloomberg)
• Beware the Illusion of Certainty: We like to think that our lives are ordered, predictable and subject to a great deal of control. The past is finite; we see only one outcome. We attach causality and narrative to it so that it makes sense. We roll our ability to make sense of the past over into the future, which is infinite; there are many outcomes, as yet unknown and unknowable. Randomness, chance, and luck influence us far more than we realize. Certainty is an illusion. Uncertainty is everywhere. (Richard Hughes Jones)
• The Blackstone rebellion: how one country took on the world’s biggest commercial landlord: The giant asset management firm used to target places where people worked and shopped. Then it started buying up people’s homes. In one country, the backlash was ferocious https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/29/blackstone-rebellion-how-one-country-worlds-biggest-commercial-landlord-denmark
• Indistinguishable from Magic. Magical Technology: iPod, Spotify, Figma, AI Art, Arc, web3, and beyond: Last week, I asked people on Twitter for the best essays and blog posts they’ve ever read. They delivered. You should check out the replies. There’s so much gold in there. I think as a result of reading so much great stuff, I had more fun writing this week’s piece than I’ve had writing in a long time. It just flowed, like some of those other authors’ je ne sais quoi rubbed off on me. (Not Boring)
• I Have Yet to Hear a Satisfactory Answer For Why Adults Care What Young People Think Maybe they just want to be the cool mom. (Rob Henderson)
• How one of America’s last piano manufacturers stays alive: Piano-building was once one of the country’s largest industries. Today, only two companies remain in business. (The Hustle)
• How Big Is Infinity? Of all the endless questions children and mathematicians have asked about infinity, one of the most fascinating has to do with its size. (Quanta Magazine)
• The Jetsons, Now 60 Years Old, Is Iconic. That’s a Problem. Science was cool, technology was blossoming, and more and more Americans were dreaming of owning their own homes, replete with the latest gadgets. The Jetsons took that dream and supercharged it, riding the wave of optimism to depict a future where technology catered to our every need, at the touch of a button or at the command of our voice. It was a fantastical vision that deeply appealed to our needs and desires for comfort and convenience. (Slate)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with David McRaney, science journalist, blogger, podcaster, and author. He created the podcast You Are Not So Smart based on his bestselling book of the same name. His new book is “How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion.”
Gen Z’s Favorite Brands
Source: The Hustle
Sign up for our reads-only mailing list here.
~~~
To learn how these reads are assembled each day, please see this.
