Paul Graham

Happy 96th birthday to Dick Van Dyke! If you've never seen it, in my opinion the Dick Van Dyke Show is the all-time classic sitcom. In physical comedy, especially, I know nothing that comes close.

Slocum's _Sailing Alone Around the World_ is great. As well as being the first to sail single-handed around the world, he writes with such humor and directness that this may also be the best book on sailing period.

I recommend following @Chris_arnade, who has been doing a sort of core sample of America on foot.

Honestly. That could be the best essay written by anyone in 2021. I noticed as I was reading it that there were a lot of different passages you'd want to use as pull quotes. So out of curiosity I tried marking them all. The thing is half pull quotes.

This is one of the best essays I've read this year. To be honest, I'd been wondering why I was following a jazz critic. Now I know.

It's worth reading this whole thread. An excellent, thoughtful analysis by a fellow writer.

Rereading Watson's Double Helix. I ignored this book in HS when everyone else was reading it, because I wasn't interested in Biology, but I've now read it 1.5 times as an adult and it's a great story.

I made the mistake of watching an episode of Big Bang Theory before resuming my rereading of Stanislaw Ulam's (excellent) autobiography, and now I'm hearing it in Sheldon's voice.

Every would-be startup founder should read this thread.

I've now read about half this book, and it's really good. He really got into the details of how hedge funds work and how they evolved. It's hard to imagine anyone will ever write a better book on the subject.

That's actually pretty good. As I read it I was thinking "I wonder if he'll mention knitting sentences together" and it was the first thing you mentioned. The only thing you got wrong was the reason for the "they are." That wasn't random; that was knitting too.

It's fascinating to read this guy because he's both very smart and has very little filter. You never know what he's going to say next. It's the parkour of writing.

Since it's World Book Day, here are some of the best books I've read recently: I Want to be a Mathematician, by Paul Halmos Barbarian Days, by William Finnegan From Galileo to Newton, by Rupert Hall The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective, by Robert Allen

Since it's World Book Day, here are some of the best books I've read recently: I Want to be a Mathematician, by Paul Halmos Barbarian Days, by William Finnegan From Galileo to Newton, by Rupert Hall The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective, by Robert Allen

I haven't read all the analyses of the famous NYT article on Scott Alexander, but this is likely to be the best. It's written with calm wisdom and a deep knowledge of both sides.

A great thread about how Codecademy survived its early mistakes. If you are a recent graduate of an elite university, these are the mistakes you're going to make.

I bought Halmos's book on your recommendation, and it's fabulous, probably the best book I've read this year. Do you have any other recommendations?

From its title and the fact that it's part of series, Rupert Hall's _From Galileo to Newton_ sounds like it would be a boring survey, but actually it's one of the best books I've read on the history of science.