It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what other men say in whole books—what other do not say in whole books.

— Friedrich Nietzsche, The Twilight of Idols (1889).

Same.

I.

For the past seven years, I have stuck religiously to a three-books-per-week policy. For the past nine years or so, I have kept a Google Drive folder that contains a PDF copy of every book I have read, every highlight I have made, and every note I have taken. This Substack will be the product of that reading.

II.

My goal is to condense a few hundred-thousand hours of reading into a series of essays that stand the test of time. Note, here, my use of the word essay. If you are looking for articles or blogposts, look elsewhere. Too much writing ages poorly, these days. There is a lot of milk, not enough wine.

III.

This Substack will constitute a collaborative attempt—between myself and whoever reads it—to step outside the churn of pop culture, mainstream news and partisan politics, so that my writing and your reading has the lifespan of a Homo sapien, not a Housefly.

IV.

With that out of the way, I will end by looking through my Google Drive for a quote. Here’s one from Edward O. Wilson, the author of Consilience, a book and theme that will be revisited often:

We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.