All the Roundups

Every Read Max Roundup from 2021 until now, in reverse chronological order

Feb 8, 2023

2023

An overlooked James Bond classic, excellent college jangle-rock, and more

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, usually on Sundays, but, for the last few weeks, due to scheduling difficulties and/or incompetencies, on Monday, I pick out some worthwhile and overlooked books, articles, movies, and music to recommend to paying subscribers. This week I’ve got…

4 months ago · 14 likes · 2 comments

The greatest crime series of this millennium, fascinating plane-crash mysteries, and more

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, usually on Sundays, but sometimes, for childcare or hangover reasons, or both, a different day, I pick out some worthwhile and overlooked books, articles, movies, and music to recommend to paying subscribers. This week I’ve got…

4 months ago · 6 likes · 2 comments

How 'Tár' gets social media right (and wrong), great music by a professional whistler (really), and more

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, usually on Sundays, but sometimes, for childcare or hangover reasons, or both, a different day, I pick out some worthwhile and overlooked books, articles, movies, and music to recommend to paying subscribers. This week I’ve got…

4 months ago · 21 likes · 15 comments

A great proto-Halogencore thriller, a fascinating experimental novel about the day Hitler died, and more

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, I pick out some worthwhile and overlooked books, articles, movies, and music to recommend to paying subscribers. This week I’ve got: A fascinatingly conceptualized novel about the final days of WWII in Germany…

5 months ago · 6 likes

A fascinating document of internet subculture and a great sci-fi movie finally on streaming

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, I pick out some worthwhile and overlooked books, articles, movies, and music to recommend to paying subscribers. This week I’ve got: A fascinating exploration of fringe politics and internet subculture, now available online…

5 months ago · 23 likes · 6 comments

2022

A movie to watch after 'White Lotus' and my favorite Bookforum pieces

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, I pick out some worthwhile and overlooked books, articles, movies, and music to recommend to paying subscribers. This week I’ve got: A list of some of my favorite takedowns from Bookforum, which closed this week, as well as some of the great…

6 months ago · 12 likes · 3 comments · Max Read

A great WWII spy thriller and what I'm reading about the German coup plotters

Greetings from Read Max HQ, and welcome to the latest roundup, a weekly feature for paid subscribers in which I sift through the media I’ve been consuming and recommend worthwhile and overlooked books, articles, movies, and music that I think people with similar brain lesions to me might enjoy…

6 months ago · 20 likes · 7 comments · Max Read

What I'm reading about 'Andor' + more good mellow occult thrillers

Greetings from Read Max HQ! 🚨 Alert! After crunching the numbers with our top-notch operations and revenue departments, Read Max has decided to extend the smash-hit “Cyber Week Sale” through the weekend! You have until midnight tonight to pick up a discounted Read Max subscription — and don’t forget that the discount extends to gift subscriptions as well…

6 months ago · 13 likes · 4 comments · Max Read

Eight movies to watch after finishing 'Andor'

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Usually this roundup column is a grab-bag of articles, books, movies, and TV shows I’ve been enjoying and think readers would, too. Today’s edition is slightly different -- a list of movies to go with the season finale of the first season of…

6 months ago · 41 likes · 8 comments · Max Read

What I'm Reading About FTX and Twitter, Part II

Greetings from Read Max HQ! As longtime readers know, every week I recommend a list of books, articles, movies, videos, music, and other dumb bullshit, new and old, that I think readers might like. Since over the last few weeks I’ve mostly been consuming stuff about the twin meltdowns at the heart of the Read Max universe -- Twitter and FTX -- I’ve been using this space to recommend informative or entertaining writing about the two companies. (You can read…

7 months ago · 18 likes · 1 comment · Max Read

What I'm reading to understand FTX

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Most weeks, this “roundup” post for paying subscribers consists of culture recommendations with only accidental relevance to the news cycle. Every once in a while, though, something happens -- like, say, a Bahamian polycule misplaces $16 billion, or…

7 months ago · 18 likes · 1 comment · Max Read

Good writing about Twitter and Elon, a great jazz album, and Subway sandwich air strike takes out grandpa

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, in an effort to bring to the surface books, articles, movies, and music I think are interesting and worthwhile that might otherwise be lost or overlooked in your regular content cascade, I sift through the media I’ve consumed recently and pull out a handful of recommendations for paid subscribers. This week’s roundup includes my favorite writing on Elon Musk and Twitter, a cool story about a fighter jet, and a great new jazz record…

7 months ago · 13 likes · 2 comments · Max Read

A Tiktok that actually killed me, and other recommendations

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, in an effort to bring to the surface books, articles, movies, and music I think are interesting and worthwhile that might otherwise be lost or overlooked in your regular content cascade, I sift through the media I’ve consumed recently and pull out a handful of recommendations for paid subscribers. This week’s roundup includes a great documentary about L.A. gangs, a smooth new EP of AOR, and a Tiktok that, unfortunately, killed me. RIP…

7 months ago · 19 likes · 4 comments · Max Read

Cool cyberpunk anime, a podcast about the NFT show, and more

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, in an effort to bring to the surface books, articles, movies, and music I think are interesting and worthwhile that might otherwise be lost or overlooked in your regular content cascade, I sift through the media I’ve consumed recently and pull out a handful of recommendations for paid subscribers. This week’s roundup includes a great history book, a cool cyberpunk anime, and a new album from one of my favorite musicians…

8 months ago · 12 likes · 4 comments · Max Read

Spooky stories, movies, and music

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, in an effort to bring to the surface books, articles, movies, and music I think are interesting and worthwhile that might otherwise be lost or overlooked in your regular content cascade, I sift through the media I’ve consumed recently and pull out a handful of recommendations for paid subscribers. This week’s roundup is a…

8 months ago · 9 likes · Max Read

A cool Renaissance-mercenary history book, a great forgotten Denzel thriller, and more

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, in an effort to bring to the surface books, articles, movies, and music I think are interesting and worthwhile that might otherwise be lost or overlooked in your regular content cascade, I sift through the media I’ve consumed recently and pull out a handful of recommendations for paid subscribers. This week’s roundup includes an excellent history book and a great forgotten Denzel movie…

8 months ago · 14 likes · 2 comments · Max Read

A great supernatural mystery movie to watch tomorrow, plus a good newsletter

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, in an effort to bring to the surface books, articles, movies, and music I think are interesting and worthwhile that might otherwise be lost or overlooked in your regular content cascade, I sift through the media I’ve consumed recently and pull out a handful of recommendations for paid subscribers. This week’s roundup includes a new cult classic movie, a cool newsletter about history, and a song from a Guatemalan cellist and composer…

8 months ago · 8 likes · Max Read

Architectural horror, a great DJ set, and more

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, in an effort to bring to the surface books, articles, movies, and music I think are interesting and worthwhile that might otherwise be lost or overlooked in your regular content cascade, I sift through the media I’ve consumed recently and pull out a handful of recommendations for paid subscribers. This week’s roundup includes a creepy experimental movie, a great DJ set, and more…

8 months ago · 13 likes · 1 comment · Max Read

An overlooked cyberpunk novel, a great political thriller, and more

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, in an effort to bring to the surface books, articles, movies, and music I think are interesting and worthwhile that might otherwise be lost or overlooked in your regular content cascade, I sift through the media I’ve consumed recently and pull out a handful of recommendations for paid subscribers. This week’s roundup includes a lesser-known cyberpunk novel, a great political thriller, and music to enjoy. To read these recommendations, please subscribe…

9 months ago · 13 likes · 6 comments · Max Read

My favorite comics, an underrated action movie, and more summmer music...

Greetings from Read Max HQ! This is a regular roundup -- a selection of articles, books, movies, TV, and music I’ve enjoyed (or hated in an interesting way), summarized and linked for paid subscribers to the newsletter. If you’re already a paid subscriber, you know the drill. If you’re still subscribing for free, consider taking the plunge and paying to subscribe. I depend on reader support so I have time to do things like like “call slightly deranged message board guys to ask them about their unlikely Arkansan real-estate empires.” For about the cost of buying me a beer every month, you get full access to the archive and every email I send out…

9 months ago · 13 likes · 4 comments · Max Read

More weird text spam + reading, music, and TV recommendations

Greetings from Read Max HQ. Before we start, a quick note: I’m going to do another mailbag edition later this week. Have any burning questions? Need advice? Want to share a crackpot theory? Looking for a very specific recommendation? Reply to this newsletter, or email me at maxread@gmail.com…

a year ago · 12 likes · 1 comment · Max Read

A great Swedish-Egyptian noir movie, rich-kid art, and more underrated trip-hop

Greetings from Read Max mobile HQ! This week’s column, available for free to all, was about the question of who should feel most threatened by GPT-3 (the answer: posters). This email features GPT-3-generated texts, including “Transcript of Donald Trump rally in which Trump goes on a rant about Tony Soprano joining Hezbollah” and “Story about Tony Soprano joining Hezbollah in the style of Jane Austen.” Check it out if you want to read something that isn’t about contemporary American politics…

a year ago · 9 likes · 2 comments · Max Read

How to vote in Brooklyn, the best video ever + a trip-hop special

Before we get to this week’s links, a PSA for Brooklyn-based subscribers! I don’t know how many of you actually live in Brooklyn — for some reason I seem to have a bunch of German subscribers ?? — but I’m going to guess that a significant portion live somewhere between Green Point and Prospect Park South. If you’re one of the Germans you can skip ahead…

a year ago · 5 likes · 1 comment · Max Read

Read Max Roundup 6/12/2022

Happy Sunday from the weekend team at Read Max, and a warm thank you to paying subscribers, who are surely the most intelligent and discerning browsers on the world wide web. If you missed it, this week’s free column was about a new book called Speculative Communities…

a year ago · 8 likes · 2 comments · Max Read

Vibes, ancient tanks, commodity traders, ambient music

Weekend greetings from Read Max! As always, thank you to paying subscribers for subsiziding my tedious bullshit, week after week. If you missed it, this week’s free column was on Top Gun: Maverick and its relationship to death. What follows now is a newsletter of music, movies, and reading recommendations for paying subscribers. This week’s roundup includes a post about ancient tanks, an interview about the philosophy of vibes, and a couple extremely mellow ambient albums that are perfect for early spring. If you’re not already paying to subscribe, click below and join the cool-kids’ club…

a year ago · 7 likes · 1 comment · Max Read

What I'm reading + a call for mail

Read Max advisory notice: COVID has hit the Read Max headquarters and ongoing newsletter supply-chain disruptions should be expected. All affected Read Max executives, board members, and outside contractors are expected to make full recovery, but until such case subscribers are advised that Read Max newsletter fulfillment may not operate as scheduled…

a year ago · 9 likes · 1 comment · Max Read

Smart stuff to read about the Supreme Court and abortion rights

It’s hard not to notice that the amount of content generated in anticipation of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter outpaced the amount of content generated in the wake of this week’s leak of the upcoming Supreme Court decision that will overturn Roe v. Wade…

a year ago · 6 likes · Max Read

Smart things to read about Elon Musk and Twitter

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future. This is the weekly roundup of links and recommendations, available to paid subscribers only. Read Max is an independent newsletter that relies on readers to sustain itself. Subscribers get two newsletters a week, access to Read Max archives, and the right to pass off links you found and opinions you heard in Read Max newsletters as your own…

a year ago · 5 likes · Max Read

A movie trailer-song playlist, bowling pin animations, and a big map

hYou’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future. This is the weekly roundup edition, which is usually available only to paid subscribers but which I’m making public this week only as an enticing free preview of the kind of high quality and frankly sometimes quite disturbing content you gain access to when you pay to subscribe to Read Max…

a year ago · 15 likes · 13 comments · Max Read

Curtis Yarvin, the Metaverse, and some good internet movies

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future. This edition, a roundup of links, recommendations, and other dumb bullshit I’ve been consuming online, is for paid subscribers. If you enjoy Read Max, please tell your friends about it, especially if they share your questionable taste in reading material…

a year ago · 7 likes · 2 comments · Max Read

Horny Chinese fanfic, the Stussy "S," and other links

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future. This is a link roundup for paid subscribers, containing information about Grimes, Hipster Runoff, horny Chinese fanfic, Ukraine, QAnon, and the Stussy “S.” In addition to a weekly roundup of links and recommendations, paid subscribers to Read Max receive access to the Read Max archives and the right to describe themselves on their résumés as “paid subscribers to Read Max…

a year ago · 9 likes · 3 comments · Max Read

Recommended: The greatest serial-killer movie of the 90s

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future. Today’s edition, the weekly roundup of links and recommendations, is for paid subscribers. If you enjoy Read Max, please consider paying to subscribe. Paid subscribers receive two newsletters a week, access to…

a year ago · 10 likes · Max Read

More recommended reading about Ukraine, Russia, the tech industry, and the rest of the world

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future. Welcome to new subscribers! This is the weekly Reads post, a roundup of links and recommendations for paying subscribers. Read Max is an independent newsletter that relies on reader support for its continued existence. Paying subscribers get two newsletters a week, as well as access to Read Max archives and research, not to mention a sense of tranquility and inner strength…

a year ago · 10 likes · 3 comments · Max Read

More smart things I've read about Ukraine and Russia

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future. This edition, which consists of links to smart and worthwhile coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is for paid subscribers. Paid subscribers receive two newsletters a week and access to the complete Read Max archives, as well as my eternal admiration and gratitude. Read Max is independent and depends on reader support for continued survival…

a year ago · 9 likes · 2 comments · Max Read

Some smart stuff, and some stupid stuff, about Ukraine and Russia

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future. This is a Friday roundup post for paid subscribers. If you find Read Max pleasurable or useful, please consider paying to subscribe. Paid subscribers get access to roundup posts like this one, as well as to…

a year ago · 6 likes · Max Read

2021

An incomplete list of things I read or heard this year that changed my mind or shaped my thinking

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter guide to the future. Happy holidays and season’s greetings! This Friday year-end post is, probably, the last edition of Read Max in 2021, unless I can manage to do a Matrix 4 blog during naptimes next week. My culture-consumption habits this year were erratic, at best, and I’m not sure I have the memory, track recor…

a year ago · 14 likes · 4 comments · Max Read

Exploring the 90s music revival

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future. This is a Friday roundup post covering reading, listening, and watching recommendations. If you find these posts useful, please consider paying to subscribe! What I’m listening to Read Max is, ostensibly…

a year ago · 8 likes · 8 comments · Max Read

Watch "Azor" this weekend

You’re reading Read Max, a twice-weekly newsletter about the future. This is a Friday edition: a roundup of links and recommendations. If you like the recs, or think someone else might, please forward this email…

a year ago · 11 likes · 3 comments · Max Read

Can Orb move up the Geometric Solids Power Ranking?

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future and other problems. This is a Friday edition, which means you get a shitpost followed by some culture-consumption recommendations. If you like it, please subscribe and share with your friends! Since Read Max’s…

2 years ago · 7 likes · 2 comments · Max Read

Cursed adapters - click at your own risk

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter about the future, action movies, and occult technology. This is a Friday edition, a roundup of links, videos, reader mail, stupid riffs, and other ways to waste your afternoon. Have a good weekend. I’ll be back with another column on Tuesday…

2 years ago · 9 likes · 1 comment · Max Read

Fall music suggestions and a chateau for sale

As I usually end up doing in the fall, I’ve been listening to a lot of music from the British and Irish folk and folk-rock scene of the 1960s and ‘70s. Here’s a playlist I made of revivalist ballads …

2 years ago · 6 likes · Max Read

Geometric solids power ranking and Josh Brolin's space zither

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter by Max Read. This week, I wrote about DAOs and Dune. Next week, expect an explainer about the Metaverse (probably). Today, some links. Remember: You can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking the button below. If you enjoy Read Max, please share it widely…

2 years ago · 6 likes · 4 comments · Max Read

"Dune," horror stories, and creepy fall music

You’re reading Read Max, a newsletter by Max Read. Tomorrow, expect a column about the Facebook leaks expected to drop next week and the ongoing moral panic. Today, some reading and listening, and t-posing recommendations. Remember: You can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking the button below. If you enjoy Read Max, please share it widely…

2 years ago · 10 likes · 6 comments · Max Read

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