Pondercraft

My personal Substack

Foreign affairs, broadly construed

Like staying up all night talking big ideas.

A bi-weekly newsletter about all the topics my mother banned from the dinner table.

The origin stories of the technologies and innovations that shape our world today.

Thought-provoking essays, captivating interviews, and unique perspectives on influential books as we explore life through the written word.

How to Read, Research, Make Notes, and Write. And some thoughts about the crisis in academia and self-education.

A newsletter for readers who want to learn about the meaning of travel, why we seek adventure, and how to incorporate more of it into our lives. In short, the anthropology of wandering.

A Substack about collective intelligence and managing the complexity of technological change.

Another Democratic Future is Possible

Researching the Communist Party of China is my day job. Here I write long reads on international politics, ancient history, and American conservatism.

On books & ideas

Global inequality and More 3.0

Learn from history to live in tune with a changing world | Guides, deep dives, slow reads & book recommendations

Reflections on art, culture, literature, philosophy and politics

Blog and Podcast about History including my original content, primary sources, and historiography.

The history and politics of monopoly power.

Janky, wobbly models of everything from philosophy to technology and everything in-between.