Recommendations you can check.
Writer of the Don't Worry About the Vase blog, covering AI, rationality and decision-making; former professional Magic: The Gathering player and trader.
22 things
The Case Against EducationBook Bryan Caplan
I found The Case Against Education and Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids both extremely valuable.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Selfish Reasons to Have More KidsBook Bryan Caplan
I found The Case Against Education and Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids both extremely valuable.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New TycoonBook Michael Lewis
Going Infinite is awesome. I would have been happy with my decision on the basis of any one of the following:
His review of Michael Lewis's book on Sam Bankman-Fried.
2023-10-24·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the WorldBook Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross
Tyler Cowen will often praise a book by saying it is interesting on every page. Together with Daniel Gross, he has written a book that very much matches this description.
His review of Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross's book on identifying talent.
2022-06-03·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Astral Codex TenOther Scott Alexander
That still leaves this as my top Substack or personal blog.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Overcoming BiasOther Robin Hanson
Most of the time, when I read one of his posts, I disagree with it. But it is almost always interesting, and valuable to think about exactly what I disagree with and why. The questions are always big.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Silver BulletinOther Nate Silver
He offers a unique form of grounding on political, sports and other issues, and a way of bridging my kinds of ideas into mainstream discourse. I almost never regret reading.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Rough DiamondsOther Sarah Constantin
If these topics are relevant to your interests, you should absolutely jump on this.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Construction PhysicsOther Brian Potter
No one drills down into the practical, detail level in an accessible way as well as Brian Potter.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
In My TribeOther Arnold Kling
There is something highly refreshing about the way Kling offers his own consistent old school economic libertarian perspective, takes his time responding to anything, and generally tries to understand everything including developments in AI from that perspective.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Dominic Cummings SubstackOther Dominic Cummings
I find a dose of these perspectives highly valuable.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Bet On ItOther Bryan Caplan
You want this voice as part of the chorus in your head.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Slow BoringOther Matthew Yglesias
He takes a very proto-rationalist, practical approach to this, that I very much appreciate, complete with yearly predictions. The writing is consistently enjoyable and clear.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Useful FictionsOther Cate Hall
the rate of return on considering them, why they might work and what you might want to do with them is fantastic, and it’s a joy to read about it.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
AI Futures ProjectOther AI Futures Project
All of it is written with a much lower barrier to entry than my work, and I find the writing consistently strong and interesting.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
The Power LawOther Peter Wildeford
But he has a remarkably high hit rate of finding things I would have otherwise overlooked or offering useful new perspective.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
China TalkOther Jordan Schneider
When this is good and on point, it is very, very good, and provides essential perspective I couldn’t have found elsewhere, especially when doing key interviews.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Musings On the Alignment ProblemOther Jan Leike
He hasn’t posted since January, but I hope he gets back to it. We need more musings, especially musings I strongly disagree with so I can think about and explain why I disagree with them.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Gwern NewsletterOther Gwern
Once a month you used to get a collection of notes and links, without my emphasis on the new hotness. The curation level was consistently excellent.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Dwarkesh PodcastPodcast Dwarkesh Patel
I highly recommend the podcast and watch him on YouTube.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Marginal RevolutionOther Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok
Most of the remaining alpha in blogs is in Marginal Revolution and LessWrong. Without either of those this blog would be a lot worse.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
LessWrongOther
Most of the remaining alpha in blogs is in Marginal Revolution and LessWrong. Without either of those this blog would be a lot worse.
A post going through the blogs and newsletters he recommends and why, written after declining offers of reciprocal recommendations.
2025-06-30·thezvi.substack.com ↗
Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.
The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.
A dashed affiliate link, sponsored or their own label means the post disclosed a relationship. It is shown, never hidden.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Fully green is recent. It drains a quarter at a time as the post gets older, and is empty once it reads as dated.
What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The shading is gone after about:
Stripes mean the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no shading.