Reading
A curated reading room. These are the sources, journalists, and books that shaped the Second Opinion lens.
Primary sources I trust
Institutions, datasets, and documentation worth knowing about.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
The gold standard for US employment and economic data. When you see "jobs numbers," this is the primary source.
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
Comprehensive economic datasets. Free, well-documented, and the source behind most economic journalism.
SEC EDGAR
Public company filings. When a company says something in an earnings call, check what they said in their 10-K.
Court Records (PACER, state systems)
Lawsuits, settlements, and legal filings. The actual documents, not press summaries.
PubMed / Google Scholar
Academic research. Not perfect, but peer review is better than no review.
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Nonpartisan audits of federal programs. Boring and thorough—which is what you want.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
Nonpartisan budget and economic analysis. When politicians cite costs, check if CBO agrees.
Good journalists
Writers who do the work. Not a political tribe—a craft standard.
Wire services (AP, Reuters)
Less interpretation, more facts. Often the source other outlets are summarizing.
ProPublica
Investigative journalism with methodology notes. They show their work.
The Markup
Data-driven tech journalism. Actual analysis, not hot takes about tech.
Nieman Lab
Journalism about journalism. Useful for understanding how news gets made.
Brian Krebs (Krebs on Security)
Deep cybersecurity reporting. When there's a breach, he usually has the real story.
Matt Levine (Bloomberg)
Finance explained clearly. Makes complex financial mechanics understandable.
Books that shaped the lens
The books I come back to. Each one changed how I think.
Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman
The foundational work on cognitive biases. Understanding how your brain fails is the first step to failing less.
The Scout Mindset — Julia Galef
On the difference between truth-seeking and validation-seeking. Which one are you actually doing?
Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock
What actually makes people good at predicting things. Spoiler: it's not confidence.
The Tyranny of Metrics — Jerry Muller
How measurement fixation produces worse outcomes. Essential for understanding performance systems.
AI Snake Oil — Arvind Narayanan & Sayash Kapoor
Rigorous breakdown of what AI can and can't do. Cuts through the hype.
Seeing Like a State — James C. Scott
How institutions simplify reality in ways that create new problems. The dangers of legibility.
The Honest Broker — Roger Pielke Jr.
On the relationship between science and policy. Different roles, different responsibilities.
Merchants of Doubt — Naomi Oreskes & Erik Conway
How manufactured uncertainty works. The playbook for sowing doubt about established science.
How to use this list
This isn't "things I agree with." It's "sources that do rigorous work." Some of these sources have produced things I disagree with. That's fine—the point is that they show their methodology and you can evaluate their reasoning.
No source is perfect. Every source has blind spots, biases, and incentives. The goal isn't to find sources you can trust blindly—it's to find sources whose work you can evaluate.