Short read: Baccalaureate remarks at Princeton University
The US central bank, the Federal Reserve’s chairperson Jerome Powell has had to deal with a lot in the American and global economy during his tenure, ranging from a global pandemic requiring a massive expansion in the Fed’s balance sheet to its subsequent unwind and the sharpest rise in interest rates in four decades and […]
Short read: How golden ages really start—and end
Plenty has been written about the changing world order, most famously by investor Ray Dalio in a book titled as such, highlighting the end of America’s global supremacy. Such thinking has preceded Trump’s chaotic second presidency as well but Trump’s recent policies especially on trade only seem to be accelerating this change. This is a […]
Short read: The physics behind Hardik Pandya’s curved bat that enables his signature no-look sixes
If you suspected that the nonstop six hitting wunderkinds of the IPL are not really better batters than the preceding generation of cricketers, they just have better technology, then this is the article for you. Through a series of revealing graphics Nihal Koshie & Sandeep Dwiwedi of The Express show you how dramatically bats have […]
Long read: How Apple helped China become America’s biggest tech rival
Earlier this week, Trump was offended by a journalist’s remark on TACO trade. TACO stood for ‘Trump Always Chickens Out’ with reference to his pulling back on tariff threats, most notably with China. Reports suggest it was a result of Apple’s lobbying given its dependence on Chinese production. How serious is this dependence after all […]
Long read: Why money and power affect male self-esteem
In Chapter 4 of our bestselling book “Behold the Leviathan: The Unusual Rise of Modern India” we highlight the vertiginous rise of Indian women in academics, entrepreneurship and in the workplace. As a result of this, Indian women usually have more money and have more assets under management than their husbands and increasingly earn more […]
Long read: The India-Pakistan Conflict is Testing the Threshold for Nuclear War
Most people we have met in Delhi and in America over the past fortnight agree that it was Pakistan’s playing of the nuclear card that triggered America’s abrupt intervention in the recent Indo-Pak conflict. This piece in Bloomberg explains how Pakistan played the nuclear card in a way that hadn’t been done before by any […]
Short read: India’s Banu Mushtaq makes history with International Booker win
For the second time in three years, an Indian author has won the International Booker prize. Unlike the Booker prize which is awarded to authors whose works are in English, the International Booker Prize includes works translated into English from other languages. Geetanjali Sree, a Hindi author won the prize in 2022. This year, it […]
Short read: Gretchen Rubin: One sentence can change your life
Gretchen Rubin is one of the world’s most influential psychologists and she has written several outstanding books such as “The Happiness Project” and “Better than Before: How to Make and Break Habits and build a Happier Life”. Her latest book is titled “The Secrets of Adulthood”. In this interview she tells the BBC that: “There’s […]
Short read: How Kolkata improved its air quality within 6 years
Until a few years ago, those of us who are regular visitors to the City of Joy believed that it deserved to be right up there with Delhi as one of the most polluted cities in India. Now, things have changed for the better. Adrija Datta writes for the Indian Express: “Over a span of […]
Long read: Tom Gayner: «Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger Laid Out the Playbook»
Ever since Warren Buffett announced he will be stepping down from the helm of Berkshire Hathway, we have heard from many a Buffett disciple that Berkshire won’t be the same again. Here is one who thinks otherwise. Tom Gaynor, the CEO of Markel Group, also an insurer like Berkshire and invests part of the premiums […]
Long read: Jayant Narlikar (1938-2025): The North Star in Indian astrophysics, he was ahead of his time — and space
Great investors are known to have the seemingly impossible twin traits of conviction to go against convention (the market) on the one hand and yet the humility to be open to the possibility that you could be wrong. Turns out it is no different with great scientists as this obituary of one of India’s most […]
Long read: Joe Biden’s Decline: The Coverup and the Story Behind It
Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson have recently published a book titled “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again”. The editor of the New Yorker, David Remnick, interviews the authors of the said book. We learn several interesting things about Biden’s tumultuous final year in the White House – […]
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