Happy Friday,
Here are five things I thought worth sharing this week.
The Biblioracle ponders which recently departed writers will be remembered in a few decades.
There are so many excellent pieces of wisdom in this gathering of quotes from Henry Oliver’s commonplace book.
Tanner Greer details the lessons and limitations he’s gleaned over the past few years of studying 19th-century American associations and communities. Simply put, one major difference shaping the sensibilities of citizens in 2020, compared to 1820, is that our modern life is shaped by and subject to clumsy bureaucracies. Whereas our 19th-century counterparts formed rugged communities to solve problems, today it’s more likely a government or multi-national corporation will assign a committee to research, poll and develop solutions over the course of years, effectively guaranteeing nothing happens in a timely or direct manner. The bottom line question Greer is working to answer in this series is, “Why did Americans build so many layers of management, to the point they ultimately prevent themselves from actually getting anything done?”
Meet the unsung hero of moderation in a time of extremes, Erasmus of Rotterdam.
I’ve always found, anecdotally, that people who lift weights regularly tend to look younger than their biological age. This study suggests that is actually true at the genetic level; that is, resistance training can make your genes appear and function as though they were younger.
Currently reading: The White Darkness by David Grann
Have a creative weekend.
Image: A November Morning. Onderdonk, Julian. 1909.
