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484 from 18 Oct 2021 to 13 May 2026
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2026 38

  1. BIG NEWS: Read Max is moving to Patreon!
  2. A rich and evocative Iraq War (?) rom-com
  3. 'The Drama' and the microgenerational digital divide
  4. Disturbing '70s-London pulp horror from an underrated master, an ambling stoner conspiracy thriller, and more
  5. People prefer A.I. art because people prefer bad art
  6. A Marxist assassination conspiracy thriller, a great rock-'em-sock-'em French action movie, and more
  7. What is "Muskism"?
  8. What I'm reading about Orbán and Hungary, a postwar noir spy thriller set in ruined Frankfurt, and more
  9. What corporate thrillers tell us about the '90s economy
  10. A noirish road thriller about violent teenagers, an underrated '90s conspiracy thriller with a great soundtrack, and more
  11. Talking the 'Dark Enlightenment' with John Ganz and Maya Vinokour
  12. A horror adventure set in Dark Ages England, a great new play about love and death, and more
  13. Is ubiquitous A.I. writing "inevitable"?
  14. A sharp new book on A.I., psyops, and magic; an entertaining video essay on video stores; and more
  15. Soy Right ascendant
  16. A perfect Cold-War spy thriller, a malevolent folk-horror flick with a fantastic soundtrack, and more
  17. Talking Iran and taking questions with John Ganz
  18. A captivating, enigmatic, period family saga; a stunning, hand-drawn, surrealist animated masterpiece; and more
  19. What do "which is A.I.?" quizzes tell us?
  20. What I'm reading about Dubai influencers, data-center missile strikes, and Iran; a great and sleazy Elmore Leonard adaptation, and more
  21. Talking Anthropic, Iran, and the Department of Defense with John Ganz
  22. What I'm reading about A.I. economic doom and Trump's War on Iran. Plus: a great twisty documentary and a good new crime thriller
  23. What Anthropic's fight with the Pentagon tells us about the politics of Silicon Valley
  24. Help me figure out what to do with Read Max
  25. A fantastical '90s bio-punk thriller, the best movie of 2025, and more
  26. Is the left "behind" on A.I.?
  27. A perfect action flick set in Kowloon Walled City, a brilliant literary debut, and more
  28. A.I.'s pandemic moment
  29. A great cyberpunk urban fantasy novel, a throwback corporate paranoia thriller, and more
  30. Talking fascism and the suicide right with John Ganz
  31. A phenomenal alternate-Chinese-history noir, a gorgeous new kids' movie, and more
  32. 'Suicide rightism' and the penguin
  33. An eerie, unforgettable new-age conspiracy drama; a sweeping, gripping true-crime book; and more
  34. The commenters won
  35. A Tom-Clancy-meets-Jeff-VanderMeer Native American sci-fi novel, a great new psychedelic conspiracy thriller TV show, and more
  36. Talking Minneapolis, Venezuela, Elon Musk, and speaking 'Trumpanese'
  37. The deep structures of human history, a reality comedy game show that make me hurt myself laughing, and more
  38. Why won't someone do something about Elon Musk?

2025 112

  1. Eleven (really 15) books we read this year we'll be thinking about for a while
  2. The Read Max year in review 2025
  3. The best movies and music I saw/heard this year
  4. What is "slop," exactly?
  5. Talking Trump's Reiner comments, Brown shooting misinformation, and white men in media with John Ganz and Jay Kang
  6. A haunting Chinese noir thriller, an ambling heist movie with the year's best ending, and more
  7. Talking A.I. bubbles and Trump's racist rant with John Ganz
  8. Three books of smart, funny, hillbilly noir; a gorgeous documentary about Hollywood's images of cyberspace; and more
  9. Will A.I. writing ever be good?
  10. EXTENDED SALE! A political-thriller fantasy adventure in Blitz-era London, a cool Hong Kong y2k action comedy, and more
  11. Read Max Recipe Corner: How to attend a party
  12. The Read Max Gift Guide 2025 (and SALE!)
  13. Talking 'American Canto' and Jeffrey Epstein with John Ganz
  14. A Philip K. Dick meets Tom Clancy 'Heart of Darkness,' an actually good kids' TV show, and more
  15. Help us help you (find holiday gifts and other knick-knacks)
  16. Whatever happened to U.B.I.?
  17. A surreal occult adventure in occupied Paris, an offbeat real-time nuclear rom-com thriller, and more
  18. Predictions markets and the suckerfication crisis
  19. Talking Zohran and Kalshi with John Ganz and Jay Kang
  20. Elmore Leonard-like "surf noir"; a great, stupid Hong Kong-style '90s action flick; and more
  21. Platform Temperance
  22. A deeply unsettling near-forgotten horror masterpiece, an overlooked collection of great weird fiction, and more
  23. Talking with John Ganz about Trump's scummy base and the new anti-tech progressivism
  24. An extremely fun '80s pulp horror-espionage epic, a '90s occult-horror action flick, and more
  25. Four years of Read Max on Substack
  26. A fantastic weird occult medieval horror novel, a terrifying and effectively perfect cosmic-horror movie, and more
  27. Can OpenAI build a social network?
  28. A creepy secret history of the Years of Lead, an unbelievably spooky witch movie, and more
  29. The Oscar Should Go to Bob Ferguson's 1991 Nissan Sentra SE-R
  30. A forgotten '80s/'90s literary masterpiece, a hyperactively gorgeous animated sci-fi sports (?) thriller, and more
  31. What if the Post Office had its own A.I. model?
  32. A cracking occult spy novel, a great Robert Redford war epic, and more
  33. What Type of Guy was the alleged Charlie Kirk shooter?
  34. An art-history political noir set on the eve of the Spanish Civil War, the funniest Le Carré adaptation, and more
  35. The Silicon Valley-Trump bet
  36. A short, eerie time-slip novel; a perfect, off-kilter '80s comedy-thriller; and more
  37. Why are pundits obsessed with Bluesky?
  38. A wildly fun forgotten 1990s art-history thriller, a great new cop mystery set in '70s New Jersey, and more
  39. Is the "A.I." "bubble" "bursting"?
  40. A great Florentine-Renaissance alternate history, two Prince-inspired masterpiece albums, and a strange and spooky Terence Stamp phantasmagoria
  41. Who killed Jean Pormanove?
  42. A slim, perfect history of the late Roman Empire; an extremely fun 1990s neo-noir; and more
  43. A.I. as normal technology (derogatory)
  44. A gorgeous folk-horror-ish historical drama; one of the best new literary-fiction books I've read this year; and more
  45. Who is Elara Voss?
  46. A terrific, paranoid Irish serial-killer noir set in Northern Ireland, a wild Hong Kong action-comedy classic, and some excellent Balearic jazz
  47. The "cracked coder" fetish
  48. 17 underappreciated political(ish) thrillers
  49. Matt Yglesias and the secret of blogging
  50. 29 "Beach Read" recommendations
  51. A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials
  52. A classic, twisty English manor-house mystery; a smooth, stupid, fun European-heist movie; and more
  53. Will the real MechaHitler please stand up?
  54. A terrific noir series perfect for summer reading; a warm, funny, wise, and lately overlooked family drama; and more
  55. Steelmanning Peter Thiel
  56. A strange, singular, funny American tale; an extremely cool gangster flick; and more
  57. The 29 "Best" (?) Movies of the 21st Century
  58. What I'm reading about Iran, a great new 'Heat'-like heist thriller, and more
  59. The future of sophisticated, hostile pricing
  60. A creepy sci-fi horror series with a great conceptual hook, a strangely gripping movie about Nazi bureaucracy, and more
  61. Who are the vampires in 'Sinners'?
  62. A fun, gripping fantasy epic for summer reading; an overlooked '00s European thriller; and more
  63. Admin is crashing out
  64. Two deeply upsetting photographs
  65. A spy novel about corporate secrets and China, a good new British mystery series, and some songs I dig
  66. S.E.Z. Noir
  67. A great, pulpy, 'Game of Thrones'-but-real historical epic; a sweeping thriller of Nazi occupation; and more
  68. The age of radical message-board utilitarian terrorism
  69. A bleak, newly relevant sci-fi classic about first contact; a haunting 2000s mystery-thriller; and more
  70. Regarding "white genocide,"
  71. A mystery-adventure set in Renaissance Florence, an extremely cool Senegalese horror-action flick, and more
  72. The A.I. girlfriend industry
  73. A strange and riotous novel about sex and self-discovery; a stylish, forgotten sci-fi romance; and more
  74. How M.L.M. world works on Instagram and TikTok
  75. Global elites are rotting their brains in group chats
  76. Horatio fell off a blimp
  77. Escape from Slopworld
  78. A slim, funny novel about internet-addled yuppies (self-inclusive), a great '00s heist thriller, and more
  79. Cucks vs. breeders
  80. What I'm reading about the Liberation Day tariffs, the Chinese "Friends of Eddie Coyle," and more
  81. Donald Trump loves mess
  82. The books I brought to France
  83. The coming pro-smoking discourse
  84. An occult memoir of the French resistance, a paranoid meta-comedy about presidential assassination, and more
  85. Studio Ghibli in the age of A.I. reproduction
  86. Which Houthi P.C. Small Group Member are you?
  87. A unique history of Paris' underbelly, a fluffy '90s heist thriller, and a new album from the best act I saw live last year
  88. What is it like to be a low I.Q.?
  89. What if "A.I." is just more surveillance?
  90. The batarang umbrella
  91. Is OpenAI's new story-generating model good at writing?
  92. His neighbor and best friend is a telepathic slime mold
  93. The A.I. backlash backlash
  94. What if Louis XVI was a wizard?
  95. A tribute to Gene Hackman in 'Enemy of the State'
  96. The Silicon Valley canon and malformed publics
  97. If Joan Didion wrote 'Little Drummer Girl'?
  98. Exclusive: Amazon's new James Bond script
  99. "It looks like the fork has pierced the sky"
  100. Soy Right ascendant
  101. Fly-fishing in a business suit
  102. FYPcore and the Benson Boone-iverse
  103. The femcel crypto-degen catalog model and the serial killer
  104. The Zizians and the Rationalist death cults
  105. What I'm reading about the tech right and Trump, a gonzo Iron-Age movie with dialogue in proto-Latin, my all-time favorite album now on streaming
  106. What the hell is going on with Elon Musk?
  107. Is Curtis Yarvin 'influential'?
  108. A great new sci-fi novel for Iain M. Banks fans, a masterpiece French crime epic, and a great new jangly power-pop album
  109. The Musklash
  110. A 'Secret History'-ish period mystery, a great '90s true-crime black comedy, and four songs I like
  111. Why is Mark Zuckerberg vice-signaling?
  112. A great, fun, strange translation of Homer; a rich, poignant 2000s time-travel thriller; and some new songs I love

2024 110

  1. Books, Movies, and Music of the year
  2. 2024: The Year in Weird and Stupid Futures
  3. One of the best 'true-crime' books I've read in years, a gorgeous movie about sketchy archeologists, and four songs I like
  4. Elon Musk and our other new DOGE overlords
  5. A great "magical school" novel, a wonderfully '90s new thriller, and four tracks I've been enjoying
  6. What Type of Guy is the alleged UHC shooter?
  7. A good heist novel, an excellent animated movie for adults and kids, and four new songs I like
  8. Was the UHC assassin a "pro"?
  9. The Read Max Gift Guide 2024
  10. This is my favorite bean recipe
  11. An archival detective story and other links; a great, stupid action espionage TV show; and more!
  12. People prefer A.I. art because people prefer bad art
  13. More of what I'm reading about the election, a masterpiece "erotic thriller," and four songs I'm digging
  14. Does Bluesky have the juice?
  15. What I've been reading to understand the election, a pure-escapist stupid slapstick comedy, and four new tracks I like
  16. The TikTok electorate
  17. An easygoing hippie noir series; a fantastic, dark serial-killer movie; and an album of retro-pop bangers
  18. What does Jeff Bezos' non-endorsement mean?
  19. Four books to buy in this weekend's NYRB sale, a perfect and terrifying fake ghost documentary, and a perfect new fall album
  20. Do we really need chatbots?
  21. An extremely funny book of internet lit; a fucked-upedly scary independent horror movie; and four songs I like
  22. How to Substack
  23. An entertaining roundup of lost '80s paperback horror; a charming, rambling period bank-heist flick; and four new tracks I like
  24. The future of live news online sucks
  25. A truly creepy horror collection from a mysterious independent press, an under-appreciated Le Carré adaption, and four great new songs
  26. Five qualities of A.I. apps
  27. A Sebaldian exploration of great weird fiction and ghost stories, an extremely fun '90s cyberpunk anime series, and an album of gorgeous chamber folk
  28. We're in our slop era
  29. A great fantasy novel midway between Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Michael Swanwick; a gnarly, stylish, revenge flick; and haunting Welsh-language post-punk
  30. Who were the bad guys in '90s Dad Thrillers?
  31. A short, surreal, and extremely funny novel about piracy, murder, and careers; a great new libsploitation revenge-thriller action movie; and a terrific and surprising DJ set
  32. It sure feels like Elon turned up the racism dial last month
  33. A good contemporary spy conspiracy thriller, a wild Italian horror mystery, and four great new songs
  34. The war over A.I. writing
  35. A perfect hardboiled heist novel, a terrific Korean military mystery flick, and some great new songs
  36. Telegram as an independent intelligence agency
  37. An occult horror novel set during Argentina's dirty war, an incredible thriller about occupied France, and a great album of Japanese ambient
  38. A guide to the streamer dipshits Trump keeps appearing with
  39. The Read Max 'Halogencore' Guide
  40. The man who bought Pine Bluff, Arkansas
  41. 14 "Beach Read" recommendations
  42. What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?
  43. A terrific historical novel set in Anglo-Saxon England, a newly relevant investigative thriller, and a vibey fourth-world revelation
  44. Why is Bitcoin even a campaign issue in 2024?
  45. A perfectly bleak internet-native occult horror novel; a discombobulating Lynchian sci-fi epic; and a summery psych-disco album
  46. Talking with John Ganz about J.D. Vance, Peter Thiel and the tech right
  47. What I'm reading about J.D. Vance and Trump, an wild existentialist sci-fi sniper b-movie, and four new tracks I love
  48. The "is Twitter real?" election
  49. The best (??) nonfiction books of the century, a couple great neo-noirs, and a dreamy, vibey instumental album
  50. My 25 (??) Favorite (??) Books of the 21st Century
  51. A ripping 'Name of the Rose'-style historical mystery, a lean and fantastic martial-arts noir, and a great new mix
  52. Is the coconut tree the most consequential dumb joke of the year?
  53. A rich history of the Dark Ages, a great 2000s conspiracy thriller that's aged perfectly, and a quiet-weekends album
  54. Hawk Tuah and the Zynternet
  55. A great '90s spy thriller starring Donald Sutherland, a wild new historical novel set in Tenochtitlan, and four great new songs
  56. My Kindle thinks I'm stupid now
  57. A great sprawling crime saga, a strange and incredible mixed-reality documentary, and a new album of perfect indie-hyper-pop-punk
  58. What's new in Dimension Apple?
  59. An absurdly funny sci-fi graphic novel; two amazing new stand-up specials; and a smooth, sleazy jazz-pop record
  60. [PODCAST] A guide to the new annoying A.I. influencer guy
  61. A new A.I. influencer is producing some of the most criminal charts I've ever seen
  62. LAST DAY OF SALE! A cool history of "barbarians," a new comedy about gig work and the manosphere, and a shoegaze album with an All Saints cover
  63. Does Google know how Google works?
  64. [PODCAST] Google's AI Overview fiasco
  65. MEMORIAL DAY SALE! Plus: A forgotten gonzo '90s thriller with young Denzel, and a good new tick-tock about Twitter
  66. Things the guys who have my stolen phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it
  67. A fascinating new book about the Bronze Age Collapse and a creepy new 45-minute masterpiece by one of my favorite horror directors
  68. [PODCAST] OpenAI's new talking computer and Google's terrible search
  69. The point of A.I. is to talk to a cool computer
  70. A cool sci-fi noir with a great conceit, a strange 1980s New York urban fantasy, and a lively rock-inflected house mix
  71. "Egg horror" and other bizarre viral recipe videos
  72. [PODCAST] Egg Horror A.I. Recipe Videos! Cyberpunk Scam Miami! Bitcoin Freak-Enforced Mandatory 4 Non-Blondes Singalong!
  73. One of the most haunting books I've ever read, a paranoid halogencore thriller, and more
  74. What is A.I.-generated audio good for?
  75. Is A.I. generated audio good for anything? (Besides shitposts)
  76. What I'm reading about student protests, a nerdy period drama about watch-making and anarchism, and a cool Celtic folk-jazz album
  77. One weird trick for fixing Hollywood
  78. One weird trick for fixing Hollywood
  79. A unique gothic horror novel, a great recent samurai flick, and a perfect Spotify playlist
  80. What is the civil war in 'Civil War' about?
  81. A great new Ted Chiang-ish sci-fi novel, a strange and wonderful early comedy sketch, and a Kate Bush-esque avant-folk album
  82. Why do we use social media?
  83. Readers recommend "apocalyptic systems thrillers" and an "American giallo" movie for fans of 'Road House'
  84. What is "Substackism" and where does wellness fit in?
  85. A great American spy novel; six amazing, weird gangster flicks; and vibes from Tblisi
  86. Threads is the gas-leak social network
  87. A fascinating book about an 18th-century "madman" and the influencing technology that tormented him, a tense Spanish thriller, and more
  88. Should we just ban *all* social media?
  89. The greatest compendium of conspiracies in existence, an excellent proto-Dad Thriller, and some post-vaporwave bangers
  90. Four unpersuasive arguments against TikTok
  91. A cool alt-history noir set in a Native American city, a great conspiracy documentary, and ... Bruce Hornsby doing Brazilian leftfield house?
  92. 'Dune: Part 2,' annotated
  93. Pre-'Dune 2' reading, a sick Korean cop movie, and four new songs I like
  94. Google made an A.I. so woke it drove men mad
  95. A good new Scandinavian mystery, a le Carré-ish English political thriller,
  96. "Dune" (the movie), annotated
  97. An eerie, witchy '90s fantasy masterpiece; an transcendentally stupid YouTube comedy; gorgeous Irish art pop
  98. The anti-woke hero's journey
  99. What I'm reading about the crisis in media; a great, overlooked '90s crime thriller; and a wonderful compilation of new-sound folk covers
  100. Massachusetts Chevy dealership's A.I. chatbot predicts Chiefs to win and also Niners to win
  101. A great sci-fi novel about dark guilds on a moving city; an incredibly fun blaxploitation conspiracy flick; and David Sylvian on Ryuichi Sakamoto's radio show
  102. Are "algorithms" making us boring?
  103. A cool 2000s techno-thriller; a beautiful alt-history novel about art and architecture; and a great ambient album
  104. Is there a 'Godzilla' of 9/11? Part Two
  105. Music newsletters to read after Pitchfork, a sick Japanese martial-arts noir, and some songs I'm listening to
  106. A housekeeping note about Substack and Nazis
  107. An all-time great sci-fi story about bears, a wild nun-sex movie that makes me think of Dimes Square, and some great songs
  108. Is there a 'Godzilla' of 9/11?
  109. A cool Mesoamerican alt-history novel, a "good 9/11 movie" (lol), and some great singles I've been listening to
  110. Eight predictions for 2024

2023 111

  1. 2023: The year in weird and stupid futures
  2. Why the internet isn't fun anymore + A.I. and magic
  3. An excellent, funny sci-fi series; a forgotten real-time '90s heist flick; and more
  4. My statement on the situation at Harvard: I simply do not care very much about Harvard
  5. The best ghost stories for December, a great new monster movie, and YouTube nightbus pop
  6. Why I cover A.I. the way I do, good obscure action movies, and other questions from readers
  7. Seeking your questions and your favorite "weird future" stories
  8. A sci-fi novel about a future political operative, a bizarre lost 2000s action movie, and a great album of Kraut-y Irish folk music
  9. The end of business-class A.I. doomerism
  10. The Read Max Holiday Gift Guide
  11. The interested normie's guide to OpenAI drama
  12. A strange, hilarious cyberpunk docu-fiction masterpiece; a novel about art, finance, and a gnome; and a holiday-music request to Read Max readers
  13. Context collapse collapse
  14. A spy novel for fans of 'The Americans,' a good Pennsylvania neo-noir, and a great new contemplative rock album
  15. David Fincher's new movie 'The Killer' is sigma cinema
  16. The best sci-fi TV show I've seen all year; a fascinating nonfiction book about global crime syndicates; and a great collection of folk and world music mixes
  17. Let's clear up a few things about 'Blade Runner' and the cyber truck
  18. A forgotten and cursed English folk-horror flick, some good internet and tech-industry reads, and a great sophisticated pop album
  19. What A.I. art spiral images tell us about A.I. (and art)
  20. More reading about Gaza and Israel, an insanely creepy movie for Halloween, and autumnal mixes
  21. "Techno-optimism" is a sign of V.C. crisis
  22. What I'm reading about Gaza
  23. Two years of Read Max
  24. The American "Wicker Man," some great "technothrillers," and a dubstep-jazz-Indian classical LP
  25. Overthinking Elon Musk
  26. An amazing English time-travel fantasy, a great BBC fantasy-mystery, and eerie Irish folk
  27. A.I. and writing: What we won in the strike
  28. A fever-dream fantasy about a nonexistent Mediterranean country; a good Brooklyn serial-killer neo-noir; and a spectral dub ambient record
  29. What is it with David Brooks and restaurants?
  30. A funny, sharp exercise in meta satire; a strange and unforgettable English crime flick; and reimagined beatless trance-pop
  31. A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials
  32. A beautiful goth fairy tale my kid is obsessed with, a maligned action sequel it's time to revisit, and more
  33. 'Brotherhood of the Wolf,' revisited with Indignity's Tom Scocca
  34. Read Max Labor Day sale: 20% off, this week only!
  35. Notes toward a theory of the millennial ambition psycho
  36. A deep-sea domestic horror, a cool noir TV show, and a great debut orchestral pop album
  37. Anxieties about kids and screen time, train vs. submarine movies, crime-novel recommendations, and other questions
  38. Seeking your questions for a Read Max mailbag
  39. A cult occult fantasy novel, a great drug-war neo-noir, and non-algorithmic algorithm jaxx
  40. Checking in on Twitter
  41. More reading about A.I., a Friedkin masterpiece secretly available on streaming, and a late-summer soundtrack
  42. The William Friedkin Paranoid-Thriller Double Bill
  43. Smart LeGuin-like sci-fi, a great political kidnapping thriller, and "cyberfunk"
  44. Notes on it's so over/we're so back
  45. True Life: For reasons I don't fully understand I bought hundreds of Cold War-era military slides on eBay
  46. The Shitposting Zone
  47. Talking with former Threads editor-in-chief Katie Notopoulos
  48. The internet is for 12-year-olds
  49. Cool sci-fi about artificial (and alien) intelligence, an actually pretty good Netflix action movie, and
  50. July: a programming note
  51. What to buy in the NYRB summer book sale, a tropical paranoid thriller, and a terrific new RnB album
  52. Why do entertainment executives hate entertainment?
  53. The French 'Heat,' a beautiful book of new folktales, and Malian praise songs
  54. Why millennials hate MrBeast
  55. Welcome to Read Max
  56. Orange-sky apocalypse horror fiction, a cool corporate conspiracy thriller about a plane crash, and a mellow record-collector compilation
  57. Who is the new Drip King? A conversation with Henry De Tolla, a.k.a. H00pify
  58. The coming pro-smoking discourse
  59. What I'm reading about A.I., the 'Wet Hot American Summer' of 'Columbo,' and a new album from a folk-rock legend
  60. I cannot believe the shit that morons are getting up to with ChatGPT
  61. A 'halogencore'-ish non-fiction thriller, two worthwhile new action movies, and a sick summer soundtrack album
  62. Share a Coke with Hitler
  63. A great fake travel book, a cool indie sci-fi movie about gig work and giant cubes, and an album I need your help with
  64. Do you have horror stories of bad meetings about A.I.?
  65. More reading about A.I., a fun new flick about an iconic tech company, and a great fuzzy indie album
  66. The Read Max A.I. Reading List
  67. A great Y2K corporate-espionage thriller, pre-'Dune 2' reading, and good backpack rap
  68. Why I'm on strike
  69. 🚨 READ MAX FASHION ALERT: Read Max caps now available for purchase
  70. More reading about Buzzfeed and Gawker, an underrated Denzel Washington mystery, and a good country-rock reissue
  71. Buzzfeed, Gawker, and the end of the 2010s
  72. Yet more of what I'm reading about A.I., a great mixed-reality TV show, and a great new music newsletter
  73. The A.I. business influencer guys must be stopped
  74. Erotic thriller recommendations from Allison Davis, what I'm reading about the group-chat Pentagon leaks, and three summer-jam contenders
  75. This I vow to you, David Zaslav, you blackguard, you wretch: only one Max will survive
  76. Every pair of cool sunglasses in the 1992 direct-to-video masterpiece "Nemesis" (dir. Albert Pyun)
  77. An incredible cyberpunk b-movie, some excellent non-tech thrillers, and more
  78. Why would anyone subscribe to a social media platform?
  79. The best "true-crime" movie of the 2010s, my favorite Elmore Leonard novels, even more A.I. reading, and more
  80. What's happening with Twitter? and other reader questions
  81. Seeking your questions for a Read Max mailbag
  82. Smart stuff I'm reading about A.I., a really cool documentary about the old internet and "Mulholland Drive," and more
  83. What Facebook criticism can teach us about A.I. criticism
  84. What I'm reading about the banking crisis, a Lance Reddick short fantasy film, and more
  85. Lessons from the Silicon Valley Bank bailout
  86. More of what I'm reading about Silicon Valley Bank, Cool Old Michelle Yeoh movies, and more
  87. What happened with Silicon Valley Bank?
  88. A classic track rescued from a Dad Thriller soundtrack, two fascinating books about why special effects look like that, and more
  89. Real fake movie posters and fake real stores
  90. A cool cyberpunk-espionage-pirate-adventure sci-fi trilogy, a great '90s neo-noir, and
  91. Can orb unseat cube in the Geometric Solid Power Rankings?
  92. Reading about UFOs, great post-post-punk mixes, and a charming and beautiful Italian comedy
  93. What is the most important tweet of all time?
  94. What I'm reading about A.I., a laid-back spy caper, and an overlooked album from a '90s one-hit wonder
  95. A.I. Saddam Hussein picks the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl
  96. Find a good movie to watch or book to read with Read Max
  97. THE READ MAX READING LIST
  98. THE READ MAX WATCH LIST
  99. All the Roundups
  100. An overlooked James Bond classic, excellent college jangle-rock, and more
  101. Two paths for AI journalism
  102. The greatest crime series of this millennium, fascinating plane-crash mysteries, and more
  103. A.I. Saddam Hussein and A.I. Michel Foucault pick their NFL Conference Championship winners
  104. Editing the New York Times
  105. How 'Tár' gets social media right (and wrong), great music by a professional whistler (really), and more
  106. The reanimated A.I. corpses of Saddam Hussein, Michel Foucault, and warrior queen Boudica pick winners in the NFL Playoffs Divisional Round
  107. Matt Yglesias and the secret of blogging
  108. A great proto-Halogencore thriller, a fascinating experimental novel about the day Hitler died, and more
  109. Seven questions to ask about A.I.
  110. A fascinating document of internet subculture and a great sci-fi movie finally on streaming
  111. Read Max Character Watch 2023

2022 93

  1. 2022: The year in weird and stupid futures
  2. The best class-action lawsuits to which I was a party of the year
  3. Buy a Read Max gift subscription and use this fabulous custom card
  4. These are the emoji to watch in 2023
  5. A movie to watch after 'White Lotus' and my favorite Bookforum pieces
  6. Did Elon Musk change?
  7. A great WWII spy thriller and what I'm reading about the German coup plotters
  8. Trying to understand "The Twitter Files"
  9. The world's stupidest, smallest smartphone
  10. What I'm reading about 'Andor' + more good mellow occult thrillers
  11. A Christine McVie playlist
  12. What made 'Andor' so good?
  13. This week only: 20% off Read Max subscriptions
  14. Buy your weird cousin a subscription to Read Max this holiday
  15. 🚨 FOR SUBSCRIBER EYES ONLY 🚨: READ MAX "DAD THRILLER" MERCH ALERT
  16. Eight movies to watch after finishing 'Andor'
  17. Let's talk
  18. Read everything about Twitter and FTX in one place. Or, really, two places.
  19. What to read about Twitter
  20. What are some good mellow occult thrillers?
  21. What to read about FTX
  22. What I'm Reading About FTX and Twitter, Part II
  23. Two questions for Twitter's future
  24. The end of the Long 2010s and the Idiot CEO
  25. What will the media do without Twitter?
  26. Seeking your questions for a Read Max mailbag
  27. What I'm reading to understand FTX
  28. Four Twitter futures
  29. Good writing about Twitter and Elon, a great jazz album, and Subway sandwich air strike takes out grandpa
  30. What does Elon Musk think Twitter is?
  31. A Tiktok that actually killed me, and other recommendations
  32. A Mike Davis Reader
  33. Cool cyberpunk anime, a podcast about the NFT show, and more
  34. A timeline of Facebook's journey into the metaverse
  35. Spooky stories, movies, and music
  36. A year of Read Max
  37. A cool Renaissance-mercenary history book, a great forgotten Denzel thriller, and more
  38. Why is this cyber-education nonprofit selling a $13,000 occult artifact on eBay?
  39. A great supernatural mystery movie to watch tomorrow, plus a good newsletter
  40. My life in the Telegram Bitcoin scam group chat of ghosts
  41. Architectural horror, a great DJ set, and more
  42. Should we still be afraid of Facebook?
  43. Wanted: your mailbag questions
  44. An overlooked cyberpunk novel, a great political thriller, and more
  45. Loab: an AI horror story
  46. Did the internet ruin culture?
  47. My favorite comics, an underrated action movie, and more summmer music...
  48. The man who bought Pine Bluff, Arkansas
  49. Dark Brandon is fandom culture
  50. Summer music to get through August
  51. How to quit Twitter + other questions
  52. Seeking questions for this week's mailbag
  53. More weird text spam + reading, music, and TV recommendations
  54. What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?
  55. A great Swedish-Egyptian noir movie, rich-kid art, and more underrated trip-hop
  56. AI Is Going to Put Posters Out of Business
  57. How to vote in Brooklyn, the best video ever + a trip-hop special
  58. Is LaMDA Mount Everest?
  59. Read Max Roundup 6/12/2022
  60. Web3 as a "speculative community"
  61. Vibes, ancient tanks, commodity traders, ambient music
  62. Who was "The Enemy" in 'Top Gun: Maverick'?
  63. Lubricated social networks, great action movies that work without sound, and other pressing questions
  64. What I'm reading + a call for mail
  65. QUIZ: Can you match the celebrity to the profile headline?
  66. Smart stuff to read about the Supreme Court and abortion rights
  67. The Current Thing
  68. Smart things to read about Elon Musk and Twitter
  69. Elon Musk won't fix Twitter (but he won't kill it, either)
  70. Four questions about the "New Right"
  71. A movie trailer-song playlist, bowling pin animations, and a big map
  72. Why would Elon Musk buy 9.2% of Twitter?
  73. Curtis Yarvin, the Metaverse, and some good internet movies
  74. Never send to know for whom the brain worms; it worms for thee
  75. Horny Chinese fanfic, the Stussy "S," and other links
  76. Can "the media" stop crypto?
  77. Recommended: The greatest serial-killer movie of the 90s
  78. Who's been to Ukraine this week?
  79. More recommended reading about Ukraine, Russia, the tech industry, and the rest of the world
  80. How to have a career as a journalist in 2022
  81. More smart things I've read about Ukraine and Russia
  82. The bombsight eye
  83. Some smart stuff, and some stupid stuff, about Ukraine and Russia
  84. What were the 2000s?
  85. Is Bored Ape Yacht Club really a Nazi front?
  86. Wordcels and shape rotators in four dimensions
  87. What is web3?
  88. Web3: The Read Max Report
  89. Mapping the celebrity NFT complex
  90. Bug-out real estate in the American Redoubt
  91. How I made $3,000 gambling from home
  92. Make alien abduction weird again
  93. Who do you love? "The Running Man"

2021 20

  1. An incomplete list of things I read or heard this year that changed my mind or shaped my thinking
  2. 2021: The Year in Weird and Stupid Futures
  3. Exploring the 90s music revival
  4. Is "cancel culture" over?
  5. Watch "Azor" this weekend
  6. What happened to Buzzfeed
  7. Can Orb move up the Geometric Solids Power Ranking?
  8. Is web3 bullshit?
  9. Milling time
  10. Web3 has a dork problem
  11. The most influential man on the internet
  12. Cursed adapters - click at your own risk
  13. '90s Dad Thrillers: a List
  14. Fall music suggestions and a chateau for sale
  15. Do normal people need to know or care about "the metaverse"?
  16. Geometric solids power ranking and Josh Brolin's space zither
  17. Ragequit
  18. Maybe we need a moral panic about Facebook
  19. "Dune," horror stories, and creepy fall music
  20. Why you should read "Read Max" by Max Read