• David’s Ankles: How Imperfection Could Bring Down The World’s Most Perfect Statue by Sam Anderson

Great article weaving Michelangelo, Florence, and Dostoevsky.

• Why Does Mount Rushmore Exist? by Sam Anderson

The author travels to the Midwest with his family in winter to see the bizarre monument to four American presidents. He wonders about why we have such a large monument in the middle of nowhere. Is it representative of something uniquely American?

• Annie Dillard’s Impossible Pages by Sam Anderson

Obviously on a Sam Anderson kick! This is a short piece of writing with excerpts of Dillard’s writing.

• The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race by Jared Diamond (Discover)

As a man chronically drawn to revisionist history, I was properly seduced by the mention of this article in another article recently published in the New Yorker. I am drawn to the idea that progress is not always a given, and that assuming so can be dangerous. From my anecdotal observation, things change but not always for the

• To Understand Rising Inequality Consider the Janitors at Two Top Companies Then and Now by Neil Irwin (NYTimes)

For people my age, it would be useful to read this article as a way to understand the difference between how we look at the job market and how our parents do. While some of the jobs are the same, the possibilities that may have been imbued with those jobs, the implied future of those careers have been circumcised.

Let me know what you have been reading in the comments below!