I watched a LOT of movies in 2024. Here, in no particular order, are my top 10 percent (23 movies) and my bottom few. First, the best! I got a lot out of all of the 23 movies below. I’ll say something about just a few of these. I tend to like at least some… Continue reading I watched 225 movies in 2024. Here are my favorites (and my least favorite)!→| David Evans' personal blog
I enjoyed lots of different kinds of books this year. Here are my top 10 plus some honorable mentions. Top 10, in no particular order. I always have trouble recommending books to people, since peop…| David Evans' personal blog
If Romeo and Juliet had made appointments to meet, in the moonlight-swept orchard, in all the peril and sweetness of conspiracy, and then more often than not failed to meet — one or the other lagging, or afraid, or busy elsewhere — there would have been no romance, no passion, none f the drama for… Continue reading Poet Mary Oliver on scheduled writing sessions→| David Evans' personal blog
In Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The modern Prometheus, the title character, scientist Victor Frankenstein, is trying to solve a mystery when an idea occurs to him, and we come across this fabulous line. “I could not doubt it. The mere presence of the idea was an irresistible proof of the fact.” My papers… Continue reading a romantic view of causal inference→| David Evans' personal blog
People have been dealing with the pandemic in lots of different ways. I deal with it by watching movies. Here are the best and the rest. To be clear up front, I like lots of movies and lots of different kinds of movies. Some I’ve watched on my own, some with my spouse, some with… Continue reading I’ve seen 160 movies this year. Here are the best (and the rest).→| David Evans' personal blog
Robert Kwasny shares some reflections on audiobooks on the Marginal Revolution blog. Here a few reflections of my own: Full cast audiobook narrations can be delightful. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders, with 166 voice actors, is the superlative example, but there are many others. Comedy books narrated by comedians are great, because you… Continue reading On audiobooks→| David Evans' personal blog
In writer Troy Onyango’s short story “A Song from a Forgotten Place,” a character reflects on Congolese music: She has always preferred Congolese music; the way it springs from a place is warmth and tenderness like a beanstalk breaking through the soft earth. Then it rises and rises, growing and filling the whole room with… Continue reading An ode to Congolese music→| David Evans' personal blog
In Winfred Kiunga‘s beautifully observed, well-paced story “She Dug Two Graves,” Somali refugee Fawzia seeks revenge for the death of her brother at the hands of corrupt Kenyan police officials. At one point, she receives an email from her friend, Marian, also a refugee but now resettled in Toronto, encouraging her to leave her place:… Continue reading “Who are we, if we do not put our feet into the waters?”→| David Evans' personal blog
Many people are working from home these days, often with more (or different) distractions than usual, not least the other people in the house. About two thousand years ago, the Roman philosopher Seneca faced related problems. He discussed them in his essay “On quiet and study.” He sets the scene: I have lodgings right over… Continue reading On working with noise→| David Evans' personal blog
Peter Dizikes has a nice profile of economist Amy Finkelstein and her work in health economics in the MIT Technology Review. If you’re not familiar with her work, Finkelstein won the John Bates Clark Medal in 2012 and a MacArthur “genius” fellowship in 2018. (You can find her research here.) Dizikes includes a quote from… Continue reading Research and answers→| David Evans' personal blog