TouchStone Reads - October 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... 

• The Half-Life of Extraordinary Wealth: Part of the founder’s series on building Santa Barbara Management: how quickly great fortunes decay across generations. (Building Santa Barbara Management)
• America Didn’t Lose Its Rare Earth Industry. It Sold It. (Lawfare)
• Reading Is Not Dying: Osita Nwanevu pushes back on the literacy-crisis panic, and on why the case for reading is so hard to write. Reports of a literacy crisis misunderstand the way we read today. (New Republic)
• The Empty Brain: Scientists will never find a copy of Beethoven’s Fifth in the brain, because the brain doesn’t store information like a computer, not even memories. A provocation against the dominant metaphor. Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer. (Aeon)
• Stanford Discovers Way to Save Ghostly Corals From the Brink: In a study in Science Advances, bleached coral fully recovered within seven weeks after physically touching healthy coral in the lab. Timely, with El Niño pushing Pacific temperatures near records. (SFGate)
• As Politicians Argue About China, US Patients Find Cutting-Edge Treatment There (KFF Health News)
• How Canada Is Decoupling From the US: Joseph Politano: the share of Canadian trade flowing to the US has fallen to its lowest level in more than 30 years, with both import and export shares down sharply since 2025, courtesy of the trade war, consumer boycotts and a formal Ottawa push for non-US trade. (Apricitas Economics)
• Meta Fined $25bn for ‘Lies’ Over User Data Privacy: Kali Hays: a New Mexico judge ordered the largest fine ever levied against the company after a two-week trial. (BBC)
• National Geographic, and the wildlife photos of the year (Instagram)
• Last week The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto published "Exposing AdFection," the first public proof that mercenary spyware can be delivered through an ordinary “Zero-Click” targeted ad.
• Nine in 10 articles disputing the definition of ultra processed foods have industry ties (The Examination)
• No one can find the world’s greatest explorer. It seems Sir Ranulph Fiennes is dementing and his wife has kidnapped him. A tragic story about a heroic man. (Instagram)
• Video of the day: Why Evolution Let Humans Have Terrible Eyesight (The Hidden Trade Off). (Apefully)

What are you reading or listening to?