As 2023 comes to an end, I thought it would be an appropriate time to compile an index of what I’ve written in the 3.75 years since I started this in April 2020. Mostly I’ve done this exercise for myself, even though a few readers asked me for this a while back, to make it easier to navigate the archives. Some have also suggested I make this a podcast, something which I have resisted so far — to me it goes a little against my philosophy — that some effort should be required.
In all, I’ve written 135 articles, about 300K words, or roughly 1120 pages. But volume is nothing to aspire to — I think there are interesting gems within the collection but not everything can be equally recommended.
Since variety is the very nature of this Substack, I’ve clustered articles into broad groups, to make it easier to browse specific areas of interest. Many of the early ones were either too thin, too chatty, or no longer relevant (the market pieces in particular), as I was finding my writing voice. I have included all of my terrible predictions, like my misguided view on the value of Coinbase, in the interest of an honest accounting. The groupings, along with their article count, are as follows:
ART (11)
COACHING (26)
CRYPTO (11)
GEOPOLITICS (9)
LIFESTYLE (10)
MARKETS (28)
OBSERVATIONS (26)
TECHNOLOGY (6)
WEALTH (8)
Total (135)
I had hoped this would be reasonably balanced, and although using broad categories helped, it turned out better than I imagined. My most viewed piece was the one I wrote about Korea.
In compiling this index, I noted a few nits which might have annoyed readers (and which should help improve future content):
Thematic repetition: the themes of inequality, edge cases, chaos vs order, and antifragility have been largely beaten to death. Travel, food, and cities recur as themes and will probably continue to do so.
Source repetition: Authors that I probably over-reference include Robert Caro, Yuval Noah Harari, and Nassim Taleb. I’ve mentioned The Great Leveler at least three times (while each time thinking it was my first).
I can’t count: I had two issues titled #103 (now called #103A and #103B)
I’ve ordered the groups from broadest appeal (Observations, Lifestyle) to narrowest (Technology, Markets, Crypto). Although I’m proud of most of these entries, the titles in bold are either slightly more special to me, or ones I might recommend for someone looking for ‘best hits.’
The PDF of the full index, in landscape mode is here. Sadly the table is too large to include as an article, and the formatting is also problematic. But all the hyperlinks work, for easy access.
Happy holidays!
Thank you for the columns and for this index. Love the travel pieces; the financial pieces go over my head, for the most part, but I am still interested in the read; observations pieces are fascinating because I hear your voice and arguments and it's like having a conversation with you, even if one sided :). Keep going, please. Happy and Healthy 2024 and hope to see you if you're in the boring tri-state area.