Saturday Links - 7/31/21
- Becca Rothfeld on James Wood's Inspired Reading: as she concludes this piece, "we choose the rivals we hope to deserve." I have been blown away by Ms. Rothfeld's literary essays this week - I hope that I aspire to sharpen my voice and my critical attention to the truly excellent caliber of hers. Check out her interview about the rise of "sanctimony literature" and her newsletter A Fete Worse Than Death.
- In Praise of Work: this author defines workism as the job of looking like you're doing a job, and recommends some practices that helped him defend the sanctity of his "Work" from the perverse incentives of "job-holding". It reminded me of Alasdair MacIntyre's call to seek the internal goods of a practice instead of the external goods of its social reward.
- This year marks the 150th anniversary of German unification under Bismarck and the Prussians. Adam Tooze gave a fascinating video lecture about the century of conflict, diplomacy and contingency that led to that historically unlikely outcome.
- I appreciated this piece about adjusting our political focus from income inequality towards income sufficiency:
"Our problem is not that there are billionaires, but that there is poverty, social injustice, and increased costs of living."
- I don't read about professional sports, much less celebrity athletes, frequently, but I really enjoyed this profile of Michael Jordan in his middle age. As Thompson writes, Jordan remains one of the purest competitors on the planet - and that seems a fraught, unhappy way of being in the world.
Let me know if any of these pieces resonate with you, and please send me anything I should pay attention to! If you enjoy this newsletter, tell a friend.
Alex
Some of my other writing can be found here.
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