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2025 reading list: brief reviews, durable ideas

A year of books on incentives, institutions, narrative, and decision-making—what each one argues, why it matters, and where it’s useful The Upside of Down | Megan McArdle McArdle examines why failure is essential to success. She pulls from economics, psychology, and personal narrative to argue that societies and individuals that learn from failure outperform those … Read more

The uncomfortable career advice I give my daughters

Ari and Arden walking on the beach in Longboat Key, Florida.

Career arbitrage and the power of unfair ease If you listen to enough commencement speeches or scroll through enough Instagram quotes, the advice for young adults seems unanimous: “Follow your passion,” and “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” It makes sense. It’s also incomplete advice—and fragile when real … Read more

Clarity before volume: What I learned over the last six years

Ari and Arden walking on the beach in Longboat Key, Florida.

Six years in public service, media, and business taught me one thing: clarity beats volume. Here’s what I learned and what comes next. Beyond the Goal: Eliyahu Goldratt Speaks on the Theory of Constraints isn’t among my favorite listens of 2025, but it highlights a useful truth: every system has a primary constraint; until you … Read more

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