The fascinating science of sleep and its role in human evolution
There’s increasing realisation of the importance of sleep, as the author of this piece puts it “it is the third and neglected of the triad of diet, exercise and sleep, which make us healthy and disease-free.” The author is inspired by the now famous book “Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams” by British scientist Matt […]
Your Brain Is Not for Thinking
The pandemic has brought to fore the issue of mental illness. This piece gives us an important understanding of our brain – the fact that the only function of the brain is to control our physical body, can be a useful tool in helping us deal with mental health issues. Lisa Feldman Barrett, the author […]
How Venture Capitalists Are Deforming Capitalism
Yet another fascinating piece from The New Yorker. Much has been written about the fun and games at WeWork, some of them have been featured in the 3L-3S as well. But this one is from the perspective of the role of the VCs involved with WeWork and how that role embodies the concerning evolution of […]
Alagiri to Dinakaran, all the pieces of Tamil Nadu puzzle are falling in place to suit BJP
TamilNadu has over the last 60 years been a bellweather state for those who follow Indian politics – what happens in TamilNadu in year t, usually plays out in the rest of the country t+20 years later. Hence ever since the demise of the two titans of Tamil politics, Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi, political pundits across […]
The Rise and Fall of Getting Things Done
Cal Newport is revered in Marcellus as a demigod whose books showed us a life beyond networking, endless travel, crowded schedules and other low-productivity activities which used to characterise much of our lives until we read his books “Deep Work” in 2016 and “Digital Minimalism” in 2019. So when Cal Newport writes for the New […]
Do Brands Really Matter?
“For an incumbent to enjoy competitive advantages on the demand side of the market, it must have access to customers that rivals cannot match. Branding, in the traditional sense of a quality image and reputation, by itself is not sufficient to establish this superior access. If an entrant has an equal opportunity to create […]
Why value investing still works in markets
Reams are being written about the death of value investing or in defence of it. Michael Mauboussin, one of the best investment strategists around, in this piece for the FT, helps bring clarity around this debate. He says “Value investing, defined as buying or selling securities at prices different than their true value, is alive and […]
Hold in the head: Saying “I don’t know” is easy. Not caring about now knowing is way harder
More often than not, our client meetings begin with the question – “Market kya lagta hain? (What is your view of the markets?)”, off late more on whether the market rally will sustain given continued concerns on the patchy economic recovery, risk of a second wave, uncertain US policies post elections, uncertainty around vaccine availability, India-China border […]
How two companies sprinted ahead in extraordinary race for a COVID vaccine
Following last week’s announcement by Pfizer that its vaccine under trials had shown over 90% effectiveness, significantly ahead of expectations, Moderna, another American biotech firm, reported this week that its vaccine candidate too had reported similar effectiveness. In last week’s edition of 3L&3S, we featured a piece about why despite what is clearly significant progress, […]
In jail, humanity is bubbling: Stan Swamy
As many Marcellus clients might know, the last three years have seen the National Investigation Agency (NIA) make a series of arrests in different parts of India of people with alleged links to Maoists. These people are, it is alleged, fronts for organisations (NGOs, not-for-profits) which are channelling funds to Communist and Maoist organisations in […]
Yale may have turned institutional investing on its head with its new diversity edict
Thirty years ago Yale changed the ways university endowments across the Western world invest by highlighting the merits of investing a higher proportion in risk assets whilst seeking to ensure that the risk assets were diversified across public and private equity, developed and emerging markets. This shift catalysed the explosive growth of US private equity […]
Soumitra Chatterjee lived a full life beyond the screen
Soumitra Chatterjee, a giant of Bengali, Indian and World cinema lost his fight with Covid-19 on 15th November 2020. Some of us celebrated the life of this great actor by watching our favourite Soumitra movies that day. Others participated in processions in Bengal where his favourite poems were read. Still others, we presume, must have played […]
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