You can now catch my recent discussion with Carolyn Gorman and Isabella Redjai on the City Journal Podcast.
Links for Spotify and Apple Podcast.
Los Angeles Event:
You are invited to attend my live event with author Abigail Shrier in Los Angeles. October 16 at 6pm.
Details and registration here.
From the archives:
People High On Dark Triad Personality Traits Employ Distinct Defense Mechanisms
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:
Why Gen Z Hates Work by Maya Sulkin
The American Boy by Theodore Roosevelt
Related: Theodore Roosevelt suffered from neurasthenia as a young boy, "with the makings of a full-fledged neurotic." He ridiculed the softness of the upper class and overcame his fears by lifting heavy weights, boxing, rowing, mountain climbing, cowboying, and leading men into war
Can Evolutionary Psychology Explain Fashion? by Catherine Salmon and Rebecca L. Burch
Men With Prestigious Jobs Are More Likely to Cheat by Wendy Wang
The System Is Rigged: as an outsider, can you flip that to your advantage? By Tony Tost
Toward a Sociology of Unmasking by Jason Manning
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. The reason that females never evolved an appetite to band together and raid neighboring villages for husbands is that a woman's reproductive success is rarely limited by the number of available males, so any risk to her life while pursuing additional mates is a sheer loss. (source: How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker).
2. Transwomen are more likely to be sex offenders than are heterosexual men or women. In 2020, an astounding 59 percent of transwomen prisoners were sex offenders—compared with 3 percent of women and 17 percent of men. (source).
3. The only overarching explanation for the global fertility decline is that once childbearing is no longer seen as something special—as an obligation to God, to one’s ancestors, or to the future—people will do less of it. (source).
The paperback version of Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class is now available.
If you have gained any value from this newsletter and want to support my work, please buy a copy today. For yourself. For a friend or a loved one. If you can’t afford it, please support your local library.
Order your copy now:
Audible (I narrated the audiobook myself)
