This week’s highlights:  The Problems with Skim Reading, Avoiding Venture Capital, and Bat Material

Fifteen on Friday – 08/31/18 – Issue 299

Food for Thought:

1. TheGuardian – Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound – Credit SC – When the reading brain skims texts, we don’t have time to grasp complexity, to understand another’s feelings or to perceive beauty. We need a new literacy for the digital age.
2. Forbes – Financial Planning For The Person Who Has Everything
3. NYT – A Construction Boom to Lure Visitors to Morocco’s ‘Red City’  As more wealthy tourists flock to Morocco, Marrakesh is reinventing itself with luxury hotels and resorts to attract its share.
4. Inc – Why You Should Surround Yourself With More Books Than You’ll Ever Have Time to Read.  An overstuffed bookcase (or e-reader) says good things about your mind.
5. JLF – How To Dress Like a Man — 2018 Edition – Credit EW

Business/Economics:

1. Buffer – We Spent $3.3M Buying Out Investors: Why and How We Did It
2. Economist – Hayek, Popper and Schumpeter formulated a response to tyranny  Their lives and reputations diverged, but their ideas were rooted in the traumas of their shared birthplace
3. TAG – Microtrends Squared: The New Small Forces Driving the Big Disruptions Today   Mark Penn has boldly argued that the future is not shaped by society’s broad forces but by quiet changes within narrow slices of the population.
4. II – Luck and Reputation Matter in Venture Capital. Skill Doesn’t.  Harvard and Yale researchers find that VCs’ abilities to pick investments and nurture start-ups “play little role if any” in long-term outperformance.
5. StateStreet – Summer Swoon?  There’s Emerging Opportunity in August Waves

Culture/Tech/Science:

1. Deadspin – How Maple Bats Kicked Ash And Conquered Baseball
2. NYT – Conan O’Brien’s Unrequited Fanboy Love for Robert Caro
3. NYT – Did Juul Lure Teenagers and Get ‘Customers for Life’?  The e-cigarette company says it never sought teenage users, but the F.D.A. is investigating whether Juul intentionally marketed its devices to youth.
4. Jalopnik – Stop Overpaying for Lightly Used Cars
5. Politico – I Hacked a Mock Election Site. Here’s Why That Matters.  The fake hack carried real lessons for the security of our election system.