Latest Posts

May 03, 2024

3 Body Problem Has Always Been Our Problem

My bad. When I was asked to write a review of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, I assumed we had entered a new stage in the gender wars. Having successfully worked around my undergraduate physical science requirement by taking a January-term class on Einstein and writing a paper on his philosophical ideas, I trust I’m forgiven for not knowing that the “three-body problem” refers to an unsolvable problem in physics. Continue Reading...
May 02, 2024

Dickens, Diabetes, and Positive-Sum Games

Is it this best or worst of times? Pessimism sells, but the reality of our daily lives makes a case for optimism today and hope for the future. The preponderance of negativity and pessimism in the news makes it easy to believe that the world is at its worst, but my experience and yours can reveal that it may be the best of times. Continue Reading...
May 01, 2024

The Church Is All Right

G.K. Chesterton once said that a stolen umbrella confirmed for him that the Catholic Church was where he belonged. As he explained, when attending different Christian churches, he often left his umbrella at the back door and collected it after the service. Continue Reading...
April 26, 2024

Finding Contentment in the Chaos

In today’s ever-changing world, contentment seems like a forgotten virtue. The pace of our gig economy only seems to be speeding up, as institutions and organizations all struggle to adjust to new realities. Continue Reading...
April 25, 2024

Ripley and the Art of the Cruel

Patricia Highsmith’s novels have a long history in Hollywood. Her debut, Strangers on a Train, was adapted in 1951 by Hitchcock into a remarkable thriller about corruption among the wealthy and the weaknesses of aspiring to success, with D.C. Continue Reading...
April 23, 2024

Brady, Jordan, or Hayek: Who’s the Real GOAT?

Trendy title aside, Tyler Cowen’s new book, GOAT: Who Is the Greatest Economist of All Time and Why Does It Matter?,is a mini masterpiece. Cowen takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the life and works of the greatest economists of all time (Milton Friedman, John Maynard Keynes, Hayek, J.S. Continue Reading...