Weekend Reading: 20th / 21st June 2026
Writing worth reading
Tech legend Stewart Brand on Musk, Bezos and his extraordinary life: ‘We don’t need to passively accept our fate’ by Steve Rose
“Wars have been won and lost on the strength of maintenance, Brand notes. In the Vietnam war, for example, the US army’s M16 rifle was lighter, more accurate and more precisely machined; the Viet-Cong’s AK-47s were more crudely made but therefore easier to fix and less likely to go wrong”
How to Earn a Billion Dollars by Paul Graham
“Exponential growth is like magic. It generates outcomes that seem impossible. And that’s why some politicians distrust it. They don’t understand the math of exponential growth, so when they see people becoming what seems to them impossibly rich, they assume they must have cheated”
Every great project was once called a bad idea
“I really don’t get or see how Stripe is different? Why would I use it instead of PayPal, 2CheckOut, e-junkie, etc?”
Upcoming meals with 9others
Manchester — Tuesday 23rd June 2026 — details and signup here.
Cotswolds — Thursday 10th September 2026 — details and signup here.
