Top Ten for January 6, 2023
The FT’s list of upcoming books for the first six months of 2023
Bruce Duffy’s The World As I Found It – terrific novel (amazing to think it was Duffy’s first) about the lives of Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell
Quantum Field Theory and the Limits of Knowledge
Andor – I had decided that 50-year-old franchises were no longer for me and had avoided this for a while, but really enjoyed it. It’s much smarter than ... well, I would say all other Star Wars product, not only from Disney but including the original films. There's historically-derived nuance (the Soviets and their sphere came repeatedly to mind), believable characters, a plot that makes sense, and sex between adults in addition to the dependable excellence in art direction and score. The franchise is feeling more and more dated, though, to allow Western and Guns of Navarone retreads: there's faster-than-light travel, but money is still piles of pseudo-gold?
Amazing visualization of inequality, driven purely by chance
Introducing the layman to the concept of technical debt, a valuable service
The Wonder – fantastic film, made me want to chase down everything the director’s done
For Pynchon obsessives, as close as we’ll come to a biography while he’s alive: Who Is Thomas Pynchon… And Why Did He Take Off With My Wife? and On the Thomas Pynchon Trail
Last but not least, one of the most thought-provoking articles I've read in a long time: Planetary Scale Vibe Collapse: The Death of Liminal Consciousness As the Origin of Human Suffering – competitive behaviors, encouraged by you-know-what, lead to traumatic breakdowns in societal trust in previously idyllic communities