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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

Roundup 03/02/2026

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Max Read
Mar 02, 2026
∙ Paid

Greetings from Read Max HQ, and welcome to our weekly roundup column, in which I pick out some worthwhile and often overlooked books, articles, movies, and music to recommend to paying subscribers.

Real quick, though: I’m asking readers to fill out a survey to help me guide Read Max over the next year or so. What should there be more of? What should there be less of? What do you like and hate about this newsletter? Click the button below to answer those questions:

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Now, for this week’s round-up, I’ve got:

  • A big roundup of columns, articles, newsletters, essays, and more about the Citrini report on A.I. that sent stocks tumbling last week; plus, some early reading about “Operation Epic Fury”;

  • a genuinely gripping and twisty true-crime documentary about frauds and confirmation bias (PLUS: a pretty good new crime thriller from the same director); and

  • four tracks I’ve been listening to a ton..

If any of that sounds interesting--and if you want to support Read Max in its continuing mission of explaining the future to relatively normal people--please subscribe below. Subscribers get access to these weekly emails and to the comprehensive Read Max Master Lists of Good Movies to Watch and Good Books to Read--as well as preferred pricing on merchandise like the Read Max “EMAIL SUPPLY” caps. If you’re already a subscriber, thank you.

I love to hear from readers who want to recommend a cool book or movie (or whatever!) to me, or from readers who are looking for specific kinds of recommendations. Just leave a comment or drop me a line at maxread@gmail.com.

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Now, the roundup:

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