Longread #454 -- The Mammoth Cometh -- 2/28/14

I'm back already! Did you miss me?

I read this yesterday and felt compelled to share it. There are a lot of important questions raised in this article. To me, the key point is this one,

The ecologist Daniel Simberloff raised a related concern. “It’s at best a technofix dealing with a few species,” he told me. “Technofixes for environmental problems are band-aids for massive hemorrhages. To the extent that the public, who will never be terribly well informed on the larger issue, thinks that we can just go and resurrect a species, it is extremely dangerous. . . . De-extinction suggests that we can technofix our way out of environmental issues generally, and that’s very, very bad.”

We see this same issue across so many public problems: the idea that we can technologically solve problems that are related to unsustainable patterns of human consumption. The problem is that even if the technology works, the underlying problem -- that we live in ways that are often fundamentally short-sighted and irresponsible -- remain.

"The Mammoth Cometh" by Nathaniel Rich
Published in the New York Times, February 27, 2013

Eric

A Short Post About Eric's Daily Longreads

After more than two years and 453 posted longreads, I'm taking a break from the daily updating of this blog. I'm doing this for several reasons:

1. The thrill is gone: I don't get the same excitement about reading, reviewing, and posting longreads as I did in the past. Over the last few months, daily updates began to feel more and more like a chore. The impact of this was noticeable in the omission of article introductions and in the fact that there were many more slips (days without new articles posted).

2. Lack of material: Over time, I had amassed a large collection of longreads that were queued up to post. I've churned through those, and there are no more in waiting. As I've read more and more longform articles over the past few years, I've tried to raise my standards in deciding what is worth posting (or in other words, what I think is worth your time). I don't want to lower my standards just to keep this blog updated daily.

3. New focus: With so much time spent reading longreads, I have for years seriously neglected reading books. Fiction, especially, was cast by the wayside. I decided at the beginning of this year that I wanted to create more balance in my reading, and so far, I'm thoroughly enjoying reading books again. In many ways, I feel the same excitement about reading books now that I felt about reading longreads when I started this blog. Unfortunately, this exacerbates the "lack of material" problem as I am just not reading enough longreads to sustain content for the blog.

I still intend to update this blog from time to time with articles that I think are worth reading. So much quality journalism is found in longreads, and I hope to stay engaged with that literature base. But I can no longer live up to the name of having a "daily longread." Nevertheless, I encourage you to please check in on the blog from time to time (or subscribe by RSS) if you'd like to get those updates.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me in starting this blog through words of encouragement, subscribing by email or RSS, reading articles, sharing links, commenting on posts, and/or just finding a way to discuss these articles with me. It means a lot to me that a number of you have stuck with this blog over the past two years.

Signing off -- for now,

Eric

Longread #453 -- Doctor's Orders -- 2/14/14

It's Valentine's Day, so, uh, here's a longread about sex toys.

"Doctor's Orders" by Dave Gardetta
Published in LA Magazine, July 1, 2012

Eric

Longread #452 -- RINs and Renewable Energy Markets -- 2/13/14

"Wall St. Exploits Ethanol Credits, and Prices Spike" by Gretchen Morgenson and Robert Gebeloff
Published in the New York Times, September 14, 2013

Eric

Longread #451 -- Resisting the Temptation to Win When Investing -- 2/12/14

"Resisting The Temptation To 'Win' When Investing" by Uri Berliner

Published by NPR, June 5, 2013

Eric

Longread #450 -- The Empathy Exams -- 2/7/14

Empathy is a major topic at my work. This essay starts from an uncommon perspective (of a Medical Actor) while weaving in her personal experience as an actual patient to explore the critical but often messy world of empathy and coping with emotional trauma.

"The Empathy Exams" by Leslie Jamison
Published in the Believer, February 2014

Eric

Longread #449 -- Has Patent, Will Sue -- 2/6/14

"Has Patent, Will Sue: An Alert to Corporate America" by David Segal
Published in the New York Times, July 13, 2013

Eric

Longread #448 -- the Suicide Epidemic -- 2/5/14

"The Suicide Epidemic" by Tony Dokoupil
Published in Newsweek, May 22, 2013

Eric

Longread #447 -- Silent War -- 2/4/14

Thanks to Ross, who helped provide information used in the article and who has served immensely in raising my awareness about the emerging world of cyberwarfare.

"Silent War" by Michael Joseph Gross
Published in Vanity Fair, July 2013

Eric

Longread #446 -- Death Dust -- 2/3/14

"Death Dust" by Dana Goodyear
Published in the New Yorker, January 20, 2014

Eric