Thursday, July 30, 2026
Substack: Eclectic Collections of Demonstrators
Beware of assuming good will. Not everyone wants the best.
[Photo by Karollyne Videira Hubert at Unsplash]
First Paragraph
When Elena Lang went missing, Sebastian Wolff couldn't work out what all the fuss was about.
- From Evil in High Places by Rory Clements
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Living a Better Life
Nicholas Bate reveals his favorite book in the Companion series.
It is mine as well.
First Paragraph
On 2 August 216 BC the Carthaginian General Hannibal won one of the most complete battlefield victories in history. Outnumbered nearly two to one, his heterogenous army of Africans, Spaniards and Celts not merely defeated, but virtually destroyed the Roman army opposing them. By the end of the day, nearly 50,000 Roman and Allied soldiers lay dead or were dying in an area of a few square kilometres, whilst between ten and twenty thousand more were prisoners. Less than 20% of one of the largest armies ever fielded by the Roman State survived to reform over the next few weeks. Cannae became the yardstick by which the Romans measured later catastrophes, but only one or two defeats in their history were ever judged to have been as bad. The scale of the losses at Cannae was unrivalled until the industrialized slaughter of the First World War.
- From Cannae: Hannibal's Greatest Victory by Adrian Goldsworthy
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Virtually Zero Chance
NPR
Hmm
The first names of the authors of Amazon's "First Read" books for July:
Anna, Lindsay, Katie, Leslie, Carissa, Callie, Elba, Kristin, Faith, Lucinda, Melinda, and Brittney.
There is a bonus "short read" by Peter.
One to Study
At an incoherent company, employees stop believing that what they joined to do is possible. As that belief erodes, cynicism takes root. Passion drains away, replaced by quiet quitting and mediocre work. The best talent leaves for companies whose values they can believe it, while those who stay stop caring about the customers they serve or the products they build. The "values" become a residue of past aspirations, orphaned on the walls. Those cynical comments over dinner? They're not just venting but symptoms of an organization eating itself alive.
- From Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad...and How Great Companies Stay Great by Eric Ries
Monday, July 27, 2026
First Paragraph
During the last days of the Western Roman Empire and throughout the Middle Ages, Western Europe was threatened, and often invaded, by outsiders. First came the Huns, then the Arabs, then the Magyars, then the Vikings, then the Mongols, and then the Turks. Each in turn, they were described as ferocious warriors none could withstand. Each in turn, their hordes inflicted immense bloodshed, destruction, and suffering on a continent rendered almost defenseless by the prevailing socio-economic--political structures and the internecine struggles to which it led.
- From Pussycats: Why the Rest Keep Beating the West and What Can Be Done About It by Martin Van Creveld
Content Creation Major
I look forward to following the story.

