TouchStone Reads - January 30th, 2026

We often set aside articles that are longer, deserve a re-read, are broader in scope…or just for fun - for weekend reading. Below are some from this week - pour yourself a hot cup of coffee & enjoy...

• New York City’s Worst Highways Can Lead Somewhere Better: The expressways that Robert Moses carved into the city helped inspire the entire American highway system. Now they can be models for community-led reform. (CityLab)
• The Multidisciplinary Approach to Thinking.  A great “Life Hack” is to simply combine these two into one basic approach to living your life: “Go positive and go first and be constant in doing it.” (Farnam Street)
• Inherited wealth is a natural byproduct of a healthy, growing economy (Aeon Essays)
• The Crisis Whisperer: how Adam Tooze makes sense of our bewildering age: Whether it’s the financial crash, the climate emergency or the breakdown of the international order, historian Adam Tooze has become the go-to guide to the radical new world we’ve entered. (The Guardian)
• GLP-1s And Your Brain: The Surprising Impact On Addiction, Anxiety, ADHD, And More: What started out as a medication for diabetes and weight loss is offering something unexpected—and completely life-changing—for many women. (Womens Health)
• An exclusive look inside the largest effort ever mounted to keep the Great Barrier Reef alive (Vox)
• 24-hour trading? Log off: Treasury vigilantes, garbage stocks, JGBs, prediction markets, reverse centaurs, pensions reform and wooden furniture (FT Alphaville)
• AI's Latest Trick Is Pulling Valuable Commodities Out of Our Trash (Good News Network)
• When Chicago pawned its parking meters: The deal Chicago made would go down as one of the most notorious miscalculations in the history of city government.  (NPR)
• Used Watch Prices Post Broad Gains For First Time In Years (Hodinkee) see also
• These Are the 100 Most Important Watches in the World Right Now (GQ)
• Toyota Bets on Solid-State Batteries to Redefine EV Industry (Vision Times)
• Interesting: Price changes in US Consumer Goods and Services, and Wages
  
• Over 75% of U.S. homes on the market are unaffordable to the typical household (Source: Axios)
  

What are you reading or listening to?