Friday Links: Reading to Get You Thinking
Assorted reading materials on my coffee table. October 11, 2014.
Let’s try something new.
I read everything I encounter: Magazines, books, packaging, direct mail. Flyers stuffed in my fence by landscapers.
Sometimes I have to consciously stop myself: “Wait. Why read the fine print about the return policies for a men’s shaving club? Quit that right now.”
Often, what I ingest and mentally masticate gets regurgitated in essay form on this site. You readers help me shape my thinking. (I love you for it, too.)
So I’ve decided to share links to the great things I’ve read over the past two weeks each Friday. I only do two Friday posts a month, so it shouldn’t overwhelm anyone—just periodically give you a resource for great reading.
Don’t worry:
I’ll spare you links to text on packaging. And the fine print on advertising. Also, I may still write whole posts about the contents of one or more of the links I post. Yet I figure good, chewy writing should get spread as far and wide as possible, even the texts that don’t prompt me to write an article in response.
And therefore, here, in list form, I’ve listed the thought-provoking things I’ve read over the last few weeks:
More research showing the importance and value of a liberal-arts education: “The Economic Price of Colleges’ Failures,” by Kevin Carey in The New York Times
Who knew people could get children to eat so healthfully? "What Registered Dietitians Feed their Kids," in The Lean Green Bean
An unemotional assessment of the anti-GMO movement: “Seeds of Doubt,” by Michael Specter in The New Yorker
When self-confidence makes all the difference to a second chance: “Nonprofits Provide Jobless Men with a Fitting for a Second Chance,” by Rachel L. Swarns in The New York Times
Where two similar backgrounds diverge to produce two drastically different lives: The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore
Something we all need to remember across all aspects of our relationships, romantic and otherwise: “Fuck Yes or No,” by Mark Manson
My biweekly list will likely get longer, as I’ll remember in future to bookmark the great reads I encounter.
What have you read recently that I should read?