Heurista

2026

I’ve been on a John McPhee reading binge this year as part of a study to understand his method. I first read McPhee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Annals of the Former World in 1999. That’s a good place to start. Subscribe to The New Yorker digital and read every McPhee article in the archive. McPhee is one of the greatest narrative non-fiction writers of the last 100 years.

Reading Now

  1. The Practical Guide on How to Annotate Like a Professor by Dr. Alexandra Reid
  2. These Truths by Jill Lapore
  3. Pieces of the Frame by John McPhee

In the queue

  1. Richard Feynman’s Mental Models by Peter Hollins
  2. Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann
  3. Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum
  4. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
  5. Outlive by Peter Attia, MD

Completed

  1. How to Retire by Christine Benz
  2. Mastodon for Authors, Artists, and Entrepreneurs by Lisa Shea
  3. The Curve of Binding Energy by John McPhee
  4. How Countries Go Broke by Ray Dalio
  5. The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed by John McPhee
  6. Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee
  7. The Pine Barrens by John McPhee
  8. Levels of the Game by John McPhee
  9. A Sense of Who You Are by John McPhee
  10. The Art of Spending Money by Morgan Housel
  11. The Preparation by Doug Casey, Matt Smith, Maxim Smith
  12. The Packet Guide to Core Network Protocols
  13. A Richer Retirement by William Bengen
  14. The Algebra of Wealth by Scott Galloway
  15. The Wealth Ladder by Nick Maggiulli