Resources Sample 2023
February 2022
Be sure to subscribe to the bulletins issued by HumanProgress.org. It's the brainchild of Marian L. Tupy, co-author (with Ronald Bailey) of the priceless book Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know, which was my Book of the Year 2020. (If you do not own this book, stop what you're doing and order it forthwith.)
HumanProgress.org is an initiative of the Cato Institute; its goal is to bring to the general public “evidence from individual scholars, academic institutions, and international organizations [that shows] dramatic improvements in human well-being throughout much of the world.” In addition to complete articles, each bulletin contains links to news articles, research findings and the like concerning positive trends and developments. You will undoubtedly find among them various things you'd like your clients to see.
I've been meaning to bring HumanProgress.org to your attention for some time. What finally got me in gear was a January 12 essay on their website titled “Markets and Dematerialization” by Jonathan H. Adler of Case Western Reserve University. It documents the thesis that “dematerialization may be the most important, yet unsung, example of environmental progress in the 21st century.” In mature economies such as this country's, we aren't just using fewer resources per unit of output, we're consuming fewer resources overall. An absolute must-read.
April 2022
The closest thing I found this month to a must-read for advisors is Jimmy Soni's The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley. It's a wild, improbable story—most notable for the fact that, as Mr. Soni writes, “PayPal's alumni have built, funded or counseled nearly every Silicon Valley company of consequence for the last two decades” (hence, the “PayPal Mafia”). Mr. Soni previously wrote an excellent biography of Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, mentioned in this space in September 2017. He is a prodigious researcher and a fine writer.