American Renewal, Irrepressible Monkey, Psychological Distress
Links and recommendations
You can now listen to my conversation with Tyler Clancy on the American Renewal Podcast:
From the archives:
My Talk At Yale
The Only Reading App I Use:
I’ve been using Readwise since April of 2021.
If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter/X, you’ll know I regularly share screenshots like this from books or articles I’ve read:
These screenshots come from my Readwise app.
Readwise aggregates your reading highlights from various sources like Kindle, Apple Books, Substack, Twitter, and so on. It stores your highlights in one place, making it easier to stay on top of your reading.
Each morning, it emails me 8 random excerpts from different books I’ve read. Since 2021, that daily message has been a quiet ritual for me: fragments from books I half‑forgot are resurfaced, like my own past self giving me a tap on the shoulder.
Moreover, when I’m thinking about a particular topic, a quick search pulls up not just my notes but every highlighted Kindle passage I’ve ever saved on the topic.
Exclusive Offer for My Readers
Use this link → https://readwise.io/robkhenderson/ to try Readwise free for 60 days (double the length of the standard free trial).
I suspect, like me, you’ll wonder how you ever read without it.
Links and recommendations:
Morality Was Discovered, Religion Was Invented by Roy Baumeister
If You Write For Real, Chat GPT Cannot Replace You by Ethan Strauss
The Case for School Discipline by Carolyn D. Gorman
The irrepressible monkey in the machine by Mills Baker
Oral Contraceptives May Inhibit Women’s Sexual Desire by Madeleine A. Fugère
The unsayable case for cars by Rory Sutherland
Follow me on Instagram here. The platform is less volatile and more chill than Twitter/X, so I post some spicier excerpts from my readings on my IG stories
You can follow me on TikTok here
Three interesting findings:
1. Play with some degree of physical risk is essential because it teaches children how to look after themselves and each other. Children can only learn how to not get hurt in situations where it's possible to get hurt. (source: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt).
2. Mental health appears to influence political ideology more than political ideology influences mental health. Increases in psychological distress predict subsequent increases in political liberalism—especially among girls and among liberals of both sexes—and is also associated with a rise in liberal self-identification. (source).
3. Regardless of family income, children in intact families are half as likely to be diagnosed with depression (source):
