September-October 2025 Favorites

90+% value comes from 10% of what we read. Here’s what stood out recently

Books 

1. The Art of Spending Money by Morgan Housel
   • Morgan Housel’s lovely book on how to spend money to be happy 
   • My takeaway is to focus spending your money on buying independence and things you specifically value. If you’d like it regardless of price tag, it’s likely a good purchase 
   • A few great quotes:
     • Happiness is the gap between expectations and reality (p 29) 
     • A simple life can be the most potent way to enjoy luxury items (p 69). “The power of contrast can make ordinary things feel incredible and extraordinary things feel bland
     • An imperfect model I use in my own life is thinking like this: If my family and I were stranded on an island with no one else around to notice us, and we could have any material goods we desired, what would we own?
     • If the taste of a fake wine or the quality of a fake handbag is indistinguishable from the real thing, you should not be bothered if your goal is utility. But so often it is not. What you wanted was status.
     • Envy is inversely correlated with self-examination. The less you know yourself, the more you look to others to get an idea of your worth. But the more you delve into who you are, the less you seek from others, and the dissolution of envy begins. (p114) 
2. Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
   • One of the best science fiction books I’ve read in the past few years
   • Told through a dual narrator structure with one as the captain of a ship and another as a detective undertaking a space mystery
   • Set in a world where humanity has expanded throughout the solar system and does a fascinating job exploring what the politics would look like between humans based in different places (in the book, this is Earth, Mars, and Asteroid Belt)

Articles

1. Noah Smith: China is quietly saving the world from climate change
   • China is the largest global emitter of Co2 
   • China is placing increased focus on green energy where “Xi Jinping has emphasized electric vehicles, batteries, and renewable energy as the “new three” — the core of the “new productive forces” reshaping global technology and power.”
   • China’s emissions are now starting to come down as this comes into effect
   • China’s investments in green energy are starting to help out the rest of the world 
2. Derek Thompson: The 25 Most Interesting Ideas I’ve Found in 2025 (So Far)
   • A dive into tons of fascinating trends and reads almost like a best of our world in data for a year
   • My takeaways
     1. Marriage is becoming lower, but divorce rates are dropping dramatically and 2010s marriages on track for lowest rate since WW2s
     2. Half of news is coming from social media
     3. People are having way less sex
     4. The South and conservative states build more homes than blue states
     5. Increase in walkable areas shows increase in lifespan
     6. AI capital expenditures show massive jumps up in 2024-2026
     7. Driverless cars usage led by Waymo has gone up 8x in one year in CA. It’s booming like crazy
     8. Vaccine rates for children in US are showing a drop 
3. WSJ: On the Fence About a Spending Decision? Try the 0.01% Rule
   • When you stress about how much you spend, it’s often based on what seemed like a lot to you when you were younger 
   • You should adjust this to make decisions based on your updated (likely increased) wealth as you get older
   • Simple rule is only focus on spending decisions where it’s greater than 0.01% of your wealth
     • So if $500K then don’t worry about decisions below $50 
     • This frees you up to focus on what matters for your wealth 
   • If more conservative then only include liquid assets and not illiquid like house
4. Noah Smith: At least five interesting things: You Can’t Just Do Things edition (#69)
   • An assortment of items from Noah Smith 
   • What surprised me most is that US colleges will likely see a drop in enrollment due to coming age cliffs
     • 
   • Additionally focuses on how green energy needs to be framed as promoting energy superabundance vs costing more 
5. Emily Oster: Why You Can’t Predict Your Baby’s Biological Sex
   • Data saying couples are more likely to have babies of one gender is questionable
   • Couples who have two kids of the same sex in the US are more likely to try for a third to get the opposite gender. This means in US that FM or MF pairs are more common
6. Parent Data: Miranda Featherstone: How to Help Your Kids Be More Independent
   • Lovely idea about how parenting is about setting limits and letting kids have independence. The two are a tradeoff that grow over time
   • To have independent kids, you must allow them to try new things and to sometimes make mistakes
   • Great chart
   • Specific recommendations are great here too
     1. Adjust the environment to enable kids: ex: low laundry baskets can be used, but a high up one couldn’t
     2. Get comfortable with mistakes: expect mistakes, messes, and chaos
     3. Consider which boundaries are essential (ex: taking off shoes and eating at table may be, but balls in the house might not be)
   • 
7. Li Liu Speech on Charlie Munger
   • Speech from Charlie Munger’s main partner in Asia markets. Use google translate
   • Six core lessons
     1. A stock is not just a piece of tradable paper; it represents a portion of the ownership of a company.
     2. Mr. Market provides value investors with services, not guidance.
     3. Investments must have a sufficient margin of safety.
     4. Investors should clearly define their own circle of competence.
     5. Go fishing where there are fish.
     6. Wealth is the share of purchasing power in an economy. The goal of value investing is to preserve and grow wealth by holding shares in the most dynamic companies in the most dynamic economies.
8. Derek Thompson: Whose Cup are you filling
   • Derek building on Morgan Housel’s metaphor that you have a pitcher of water every day which is your attention and you choose how to use it
   • Attention is the finite resource so ask whose cup are you filling
   • Morgan realized he was filling cup of people he didn’t know and that he should be filling up the cup of his family, friends, and those he loves
   • Make sure you save your attention for your priorities and the people and things that matter most in your life
9. Colossus: Devon Zuegel is Building a New Town
   • Esmeralda is town Devon Zuegel is designing 90 minutes north of SF
   • Designed to be small town and dense with everything within walking distance
   • 5 principles to her design
     1. Support a multi-generational community
     2. Prioritize pedestrians and cyclists over cars
     3. Cultivate a culture of learning and building
     4.  Harmonize with nature
     5.  Promote health and wellness
10. Tim Urban: Tales from Toddlerhood
    • The incomparable Tim Urban on how it feels to have two children and one as a toddler
    • Lots of hilarious pictures and my favorite is the one of two naps
      •  
11. Derek Thompson: This Is How the AI Bubble Will Pop
    • Deep dive into the extremely high capital spending associated with AI right now
    • Highlights from his podcast on why AI is overvalued
      1. Crazy high spending on capex for AI
      2. 60% of spending is on GPUs which don’t have long half life
      3. Point that this amount of investment AI distorts market by pulling funding from elsewhere and forcing high hurdle rates for other types of investment
      4. Expects offshoring of AI data centers to other places due to electricity costs
      5. SPVs are the financing off balance sheet for major investors like MSFT/Meta
      6. His point was that economy is tied to AI stocks because even things like REITs and AC companies are tied up in the massive economic output
      7. Concern about a financial crisis would be from insurance companies owned by private equity who are tied up in AI stocks and then not able to keep investing
      8. He guesses a break in system from AI in about 2.5 years
12. Emily Oster: Child Care Is Expensive and Hard to Find. Here’s How We Fix It.
    • Goes through the costs of why childcare is so expensive
      • Basically you need a 4/1 ratio of workers to children 
      • Then pay for rent of space and furniture, supplies, etc.
        • I’d add in high income areas, the cost is local cost of jobs and housing which basically drive up the prices
        • The only regulation impacting it is the 4 to 1 ratio
      • Her point is most of the cost is in the people working
    • The reason people struggle to find a spot is if the cost of childcare rises too much, then you see families switch to something like a nanny share or someone staying home to help with children
    • Talks about how subsidizing childcare by either going to families or directly to childcare centers would be enabling them to increase the prices of childcare without families charging more
      • The argument for subsidies is if there is positive externalities from them (similar to K-12 education)
      • Biggest externalities are more women in workforce and some increase in fertility