Humanity has had a rough few years, which pessimists have taken as proof that the world keeps getting worse. Objectively, however, life for most people has increased in quality. Global poverty is declining, living conditions are improving, mortality is decreasing, and prosperity is flourishing. In The Rational Optimist, scientist and author Matt Ridley explains that working […]
How to Invest in Yourself
Your personal assets make up your “identity capital.” Think of this capital as more colorful than a resumé and more complicated than a brand. Your identity capital includes all your experiences over a period of time: your education, your job, your hobbies, and even what you post on social media. When you’re at a crossroads […]
Can You Spot a Lie?
Fake news has been around for centuries. But in recent years, techniques have gotten more sophisticated and insidious, making misinformation super tough to spot, at least some of the time. Instead of rehashing which news networks and platforms have a fake news problem (spoiler alert: your opinion probably depends on your politics), it might be […]
The Dangers of Tracking Drug Lords
Mexican author and journalist Anabel Hernandez already knew that her government was corrupt. But a horrible family tragedy gave her the courage she needed to take her reporting to the next level. Outraged by authorities who told her that they would only investigate her father’s murder if her family paid a bribe, Hernandez redoubled her […]
Time to Pick a Side
Good men aren’t hard to find. They’ve just given up. That’s the opinion of Helen Smith, a psychologist who has had it with society’s anti-male bias. In Men on Strike, Smith traces the history of how men in Western society have been chased out of public and private life. She sees harmful stereotypes everywhere she looks. […]
Bill O’Reilly Takes on the Mob
In January 1925, Al Capone became the head of the Chicago Outfit, a giant mob that controlled many illegal businesses across the US. This extensive crime network operated in near total secrecy. When Capone was finally jailed about a decade later, it was for tax evasion—not the many murders he had committed. Written by O’Reilly and […]
The Golden Age of Banking
Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant. Dwyane Wade. The world-renowned trainer Tim Grover has examined some of his most fascinating experiences with NBA superstars, and distilled the wisdom we need to rise to greatness. These days, financial power is widely distributed among American, European, and Japanese corporations. But much of this complex global system can be traced […]
Can the U.S. Recover?
The death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, led to a wave of Black Lives Matter protests. But actively fighting for human rights, and Black lives specifically, shouldn’t require a shocking incident or video, says CNN journalist Don Lemon. As one of the newscasters who broke the news of Floyd’s death, Lemon recognized that […]
Don’t Sell Yourself Short
The universe is estimated to be 13.8 billion years old. So it’s understandable if, as puny humans, we think of ourselves as relatively inconsequential. Our physical bodies are very small compared to the vastness of the universe. The Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek has a different perspective. He points out that each individual contains about 10 […]
Why Is Parenting So Tough?
Being a parent can feel impossible sometimes. But it hasn’t always been this way. Some Western parenting methods date back only about a hundred years; others go back just a few decades. The concept of the nuclear family, for instance, is relatively new. Until recently, people around the world shared the burdens of raising children. Now, most parents of […]
