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Infinite Jest Extraction
I read David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest via audiobook, which at the default speed, takes over 52.5 hours. On paper, the book is usually over 1,100 pages, including its 388 endnotes. I’ve written about books before, but these essays are so long and so much of them are devoted to summarizing the texts that I…
Notes on Afghanistan
In Fall 2025, I spent three weeks in Afghanistan travelling through Kabul, Bamiyan, Ghazni, Kandahar, Herat, and Mazar-i-Sharif. The following is a recounting of the interesting parts of my travels and readings on the country. By far the best source I’ve found for understanding Afghanistan and particularly the Taliban is Taliban: The Power of Militant…
Notes on Tunisia
I spent almost three weeks in Tunisia, visiting the cities of Tunis, Bizerte, El Kef, Tozeur, Tataouine, El Jem, Sfax, Sousse, Monastir, Kairouan, and a few smaller towns in between. At first, I thought this post would be heavy on travel and light on history, but I got carried away on the background reading and…
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Matt Lakeman 