Roundup: June 20, 2023

So much great reading! And too much time!

Actor portrayal of my household last week.

I was under the weather last week, which means that I had time to catch up on a lot of great media. This week I am working hard to meet a bunch of deadlines and passing along the great stuff I was able to take in. Like:

Things to Read

• Slough House: This series of novels by Mick Herron is about a fictional division of the UK’s Mi5 spy agency. The idea is that some employees have screwed up too much to be kept on, but know too much to be fired. They are shipped off to a side office, known as Slough House, and kept busy with paperwork, but they also manage to get into a lot of trouble. The stories are hilarious. Last week, I learned that each book takes about six hours to read. (Amazon Affiliate Link)

• Adventures in Publishing: The lovely and talented Adrienne Gunn wrote a newsletter article about her book’s many rejections. Traditional publishing is complicated, and, well, this story has (what I think is) a happy ending. (Substack)

• Art and Counterfeiting: I’ve always loved the artwork on stamps, currency, and stock certificates, but some people love it more than others. I have several pieces of jewelry made from pre-euro European coins. Arthur Williams took up counterfeiting. Then he got out of prison and took up art, about money. It’s a fascinating story. (Chicago Sun-Times)

• The Wedding Planner: Because my kid just got married, I found this article by a high-end wedding planner about her work to be super interesting. Also, some people are jerks. (The Atlantic)

• The Money Guru Who Knows Nothing: Anyone who has a never-fail system for making money is retired to an oceanfront mansion in Maui. Meanwhile, Jim Cramer goes on CNBC every night. His performance is so bad that some traders opt to do the exact opposite. By the way, a dirty secret of brokerage firms that deal with day traders is that they often take the exact opposite position in their proprietary accounts, ostensibly as a hedge. (New York Magazine)

• Curing Hate with Psychedelics: Researchers are looking at different ways that guided psychedelic therapy can help people deal with complex psychological situations. One participant in a research study on MDNA was so moved that he gave up his white supremacist ways. Talk about mind blowing. (Insider)

Things to Hear

• Pop Culture and True Crime: One of my favorite podcasts is You’re Wrong About, hosted by Sarah Marshall. She often looks at things we might have heard about or vaguely remember, whether it be Tonya Harding’s figure skating career or the death of hiker Chris McCandless. Check it out! (Stitcher)

• Barbiecore!: Dua Lipa has released a video for her song on the Barbie movie soundtrack.