January Links

What I'm reading

Author

Riley Haas
January 30, 2026

This monthly post listing what I’m currently reading feels pretty bleak so:

The answer is obviously no.

What I’m Reading:

  • Vladimir Nabokov: The Gift (1938): I’m worried my tolerance for Literature with a capital L is fading. I am so far unmoved by this novel about a struggling Russian emigre poet. I do think it’s interesting - how Nabokov inhabits his stream-of-consciousness is certainly interesting writing. But so far I am having trouble caring.

  • Will Storr: The Unpersuadables (2014): A book I would have enjoyed much more in 2014 than in 2026: a reporter spends time with a bunch of people who believe crazy things about the world. His willingness to indulge them feels horribly naive now. But also, the chapters that are not specifically about that are the usual parade of social psychology studies in every pop psychology book with zero acknowledgement of the replication crisis. I don’t think it’s aged well given, you know, RFK Jr. et al.

  • José Saramago: Blindness (1995): I quit on this bleak and, to me, extremely unrealistic fable/parable of man’s inhumanity to man. To the best of my knowledge Saramago never lived through a major pandemic. So, like so many others (including me for a long time), he decided the 20th century showed the true colours of humanity and decided to write this story. Having lived through a pandemic and seen how people actually behaved, I don’t really have time for these kinds of stories any more. I think they’re bullshit. The 20th century was the worst century in history for death, this is just a fact. But there were reasons for that and they are not “a mysterious medical catastrophe plagues a city.”

  • Blaise Agüera y Arcas: Who Are We Now? (2023): I’d say this is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand “kids today” (and by that I mean young adults, not actual children). But there’s also tons of other interesting information. For me the most interesting sections are about handedness and intersex people. It’s a commitment but I really think it’s worth your time. Probably the most important book of 2023.

  • “Watching Bari Weiss Murder Investigative Journalism at CBS”: This whole saga really makes me concerned that virtually nobody knows the difference between journalism and punditry. (I wrote about that a few weeks after I read this.) One is essential for a functioning liberal democratic society, the other increasingly feels like a massive problem. (Pundits can be consistently wrong about things for decades and they are rarely called to account.)

  • “The Media Thinks Republicans are Aliens”: I think there are some good points here specifically as relates to the Republicans in power at the moment.

  • “A Criminal Empire”: This isn’t unprecedented, it’s business as usual for the US. The difference is that Trump has no ideology, whereas past presidents used ideology to excuse their true feelings that Might Makes Right.

  • “Perhaps YOU are the problem”: On arguing online, and changing minds, on the internet in particular. After reading this, I immediately emailed the friend who changed my mind on the death penalty 25 years ago, because I don’t think I ever told him he changed my mind. (Update: I had not told him.)

  • “Crude Ideology”: On trying to understand that the hell is going on.

  • “ICE Agent Kills Woman, DHS Tells Obvious, Insane Lies About It”: I’m sorry to keep putting stuff here about the US. I really would like to stop paying attention. Ahem. To me, the failure of the media is the biggest failure. If only major news media covered what is happening in the US without sanewashing. Look at that headline. It is accurate. Until the largest media organizations in the United States start covering what is happening as something not just abnormal but threatening, and something that must be opposed, this will not end well. Also: “How Hard Is It To Oppose Murder?” (Update: There has been some change in attitudes since the second shooting of a white person in Minneapolis but who knows if this will actually lead to any kind of real change. It does seem like the Democrats in Congress will fail to do what they must to end this.)

  • “The Tyranny of the Complainers”: Note: This is from an American (formerly Canadian) libertarian. (Don’t read the comments!) But I think the point is well-made. He doesn’t make it about book bans (and he should have!) but it’s the same phenomenon there too, where most complaints come from a few people. Given the legitimizing of crazy that has happened in the last 5 years or so, I do think it’s in the interest of all liberal democracies to have some kind of regulation in place that allows bureaucrats and politicians to ignore serial complainers. (Of course, the other side of this is that sometimes there really is injustice and the only way to get any response from the system is to become a nuisance. I don’t know what the balance is, but we haven’t found it. It does seem like in too many areas the government leans towards hearing out the crazies too much, or even letting them influence policy and regulation, as with what is cited in this post.)

  • “How Did TVs Get So Cheap?”: They really are much cheaper.

  • “The Golden Age of Vaccine Development”: I keep saying, we’re in the best time to be alive in terms of medicine.

  • “Either ICE Is Abolished or It Will Kill Many More Renee Goods”: Spencer Ackerman on ICE murdering American citizens in the streets. “An awful lot of people in politics and journalism who have avoided this rot are going to persist in doing so. The folly of the Obama and Biden people, in their unwillingness to confront the rot they presided over, was to think they could continue in constrained form the operations of the War on Terror without fueling the nativist politics of the War on Terror. Such people are going to consider this newsletter edition hysterical. When they seek to govern again, they will do so by attempting to channel the outrage generated by this moment while rejecting abolition. They must have Renee Good's bloody airbag shoved in their faces until they have no choice but to champion abolition or get out of its way. There can be no accommodation of a security agency that targets the public. Any politician or take-merchant who seeks such accommodation brings us closer to the day when ICE puts three between the eyes of someone you love. “ (My emphasis.) Ackerman wrote this before the man was shot ten times. And look what’s happening.

  • “We're all just content for ICE”: Garbage Day went to Minneapolis.

  • “You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof” [PW]: This journalist, who is extremely Googleable, applied for ICE.

  • “Screw your coach’s challenge”: Some interesting thoughts about the NBA and reffing.

  • “Proving (literally) that ChatGPT isn't conscious”: So I cannot vouch for this. But, you know, the author thinks he’s correct.

  • “If You Want Freedom and Democracy For Iranian People and All Peoples, You Must Start By Admitting What America Is and Does”: Amen. Related: “Empire Building at Home and Abroad.”

  • “Wikipedia at 25”: A celebration of the right way to internet.

  • “This is Literally the Job": A media critic on why the US media failed to see this coming.

What I’m Listening to:

  • Behind the Bastards:

  • Canadaland:

    • Commons:

      • “Real Estate”:

        • “City of Glass”: I was quite worried about this one. I’m happy to say that the host, at least, is not a NIMBY.

        • “Terminal City”: People used to live where Stanley Park is now.

        • “The Last Man in Africville”: I knew nothing about this.

        • “The Bridle Path”: There’s a bit of a personal connection for me with this one. A few years ago, when I worked for an agency, I worked for the woman in this episode because of her appearance here. I had totally forgotten. It gave me a chuckle.

  • Darknet Diaries:

    • “LOD” and “MOD”: A two-parter about the early days of hacking with Jack just narrating. Interesting stuff that I didn’t know but I prefer when there’s a guest.

    • “Threatlocker”: Basically just an ad. But the opening segment was kind of interesting.

  • Hardcore History: “Human Resources”: I first listened to this show something like a decade and a half ago. I stopped for many reasons but perhaps the biggest one was the sheer size of the episodes. But Jenn listened to this episode and told me about it. And I realized I hadn’t read a book about the Atlantic slave trade. So here we are.

  • In the Dark:

    • Season 4: This season is about COVID’s impact in the city they did season 2. I haven’t committed to listening to it yet simply because I’m not sure I need to relive the era again, after already listening to the Commons season on what happened here. That being said, the first episode is really interesting because it’s about a city ordinance banning religious services that became notorious, especially among The Right in the US. There are a few interesting things:

      • The mayor didn’t consult with the local infectious disease specialist before creating the ordinance and it didn’t make a lot of sense (even given the little information that was known at the time).

      • One of the preachers affected went on fucking Tucker Carlson to complain about it seemingly uninterested in the kind of affect that had.

      • Said preacher at least partially blamed Biden for the ordinance despite Trump being president at the time.

      • The social media posts by the preachers and congregants went viral but I bet the Tucker Carlson clip did too.

      • I suspect that when right wing Americans claim the government overreached during COVID, they are thinking specifically about things like this, bad rules by a small selection governments (likely municipal or maybe county or state) that were not enforced as much as they think and were absolutely not happening all over the country.

      • But it’s all the Democrats fault, right? And ICE murdering US citizens is the just consequence.

    • Season 3: Season 3 is all the more relevant now that the US has one again played global cop. There are people out there, including many Venezuelans, who will tell you this was a good thing despite the bad intentions. I have no idea if that will prove true. I have never been To Venezuela and I have only known one or two Venezuelans in my life. I have never read anything or watched anything specifically about Venezuela (as opposed to South American as a whole). But I do know that, when the US decides to “fix” a country, certain things are inevitable, such as unforeseen consequences. And you know what else is inevitable? War crimes. If you don’t believe me, listen to Episode 8 of this season or go look at the show notes. (Since I wrote this, it seems less likely there will be an occupation. That wasn’t obvious at the beginning, though.)

  • The Zach Lowe Show [nee The Lowe Post]: My usual basketball podcast. It would take a lot to get me to stop listening to this show. But the incessant, repetitive Giannis trade speculation (during something like half of the episodes in the last two months!) is making me insane. If it hasn’t happened yet, it’s not fucking news. Nothing has changed

  • Reply All:

    • "The Reply All Halloween Scream-A-Thon": I do not believe in ghosts and so I found the first half of this pretty tiresome. (Also, if someone is in your room robbing you, do something about it? I bet if he yelled…) But the second half is better because it’s based in reality.

    • "30-50 Feral Hogs": Really worth listening to this one if you made fun of this guy like everyone else did.

    • “Bedbugs and Aliens”: A fun “Yes Yes No” that also, as usual, reveals the naivete of the hosts as to how much of this stupid social media drama will actually matter in the future.

    • "The Woman in the Air Conditioner": Maybe I overrate my personal courage (I am not a very brave man) but I don’t know why people don’t just get up and check when they hear noises in their homes. Ahem. This is pretty interesting, actually. It involves a movie.

    • "Summer Hotline": A call-in show with tech problems. These are always kind of interesting at the very least.

  • Science Vs.:

    • “How to Smell Like a Dog”: A mildly interesting interview about weird animals senses.

    • “Does Tylenol Cause Autism?”: Released before the report actually came out, this is more interesting than I would have thought. It makes sense that some people think this is true, given what the studies initially said. However, it’s a testament to how incompetent certain people are (or, perhaps how mendacious they are) that the obvious explanation was ignored until more studies were done (and those studies were, of course, ignored by certain people).

    • “AI Chatbots: Are They Dangerous?”: They are very reasonable about this.

    • “Memory: How to Boost it”: There are indeed some hacks, but they aren’t the ones popular on social media.

    • “Autism”: This goes where it should go, though they take their time. (So if you listen to the first half and you’re wondering why they haven’t dealt with the obvious explanation, well, it’s coming.) But one thing I found frustrating is that they don’t deal with a potentially just as big elephant, which is how valuable a diagnosis of anything is if it includes a wide variety of behaviors/symptoms. I am extremely skeptical that “autism” is a suitable term for both the people who cannot function without support and one of the researchers they interview, even with it as a spectrum. What is its explanatory power exactly? That being said, RFK Jr. is horrible and one hopes that, at some point before he dies (which always sounds to me like it could be any day, due to his voice), someone somewhere can hold him to account for all the terrible stuff he has done. Children are dying and have died and will continue to die.

  • The Bill Simmons Podcast: “An NBA Mailbag”: Zach is here for the beginning of this one.

  • We’re Not So Different: “We’re Very Different: Irony”: This is a podcast co-hosted by a historian Jenn watches on YouTube. This episode is about the ironic frame of mind and how it didn’t really exist in the past, inspired by them reading Umberto Eco. I have really mixed feelings about this episode, though. The male co-host seems very uncomfortable talking off the cuff and gets sort of lost in thought multiple times. And the episode derails into politics and generation differences at the end. But some of it is interesting including the idea that the ironic detachment era of society is the fault of The Simpsons.

What I’m Watching: