My Top 10 Favorite Substacks from May

These are the ones which impressed me the most.

energetic applause an audience of angels

I am subscribed to 540 Substack so far. It wouldn’t surprise me if I end up subscribing to three or four times this many within the next few years. I want to read widely across topics, across the globe, across perspectives which I may not share.

Here are the 10 which made the biggest impression on me last month, ranked in a rough order. These are not necessarily my absolute favorites overall, so much as the ones which really delivered last month:

Simon Owens

offers tremendously thoughtful analysis of today’s mediascape. Essential reading for anyone involved in writing and media today.

I don’t need to make the usual spiel about why you need to read everything

Douglas Rushkoff

writes because I’ve already made it many times before and will certainly do so again probably not long into the future:

7 Great Counterculture Authors Who Inspire My Writing and Zionist Activism

Also: better to subscribe to Rushkoff’s Patreon rather than his Substack.

Eve Barlow

hits the hardest of anyone on Substack. Her writings are often so effective and so devastating that I have to wait until I’m in the right mindset to read them.

S Peter Davis

is another I look forward to reading weekly. He’s both funny and thoughtful, often also writing about today’s strange technological-cultural-media landscape.

Joel J Miller

is certainly the best book-centric Substack I have yet to encounter.

energetic applause an audience of angels

Alan Dershowitz

continues to be one of the most fascinating and challenging writers, especially when you disagree with him. Heterodox writers like him remain a rarity.

Alex Nowrasteh

, my favorite writer on immigration who has most influenced my views on the issue. If you happen to be a so-called “Trump supporter” deeply engaged by the convicted felon’s “policies” on the subject, then just read Alex to understand why I am not. The libertarian position advocating for systemic reform of our immigration system and then the facilitating of greater immigration into the country is both more moral and economically-beneficial.

Gurwinder

remains one of the most engaging and useful of writers on Substack. He also succeeds consistently on Notes, the shorter form also suits him.

Sam Harris

just joined Substack yesterday so he manages to make the cut! I used to not care for him that much 20 years ago, back when he was one of the “four horsemen” of the New Atheists movement alongside Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. But he seems to have moderated and expanded considerably since those days so I’m looking forward to seeing what he puts out here.

I’m so glad that

Yashar Ali

is on Substack, he was one of my favorites to follow back in the days before a far right billionaire man-child murdered the giant blue bird, building an X on its grave.

Yashar’s breaking news posts and especially his Iran-related articles are so helpful.

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And as a bonus one too which I would have included if I did not have such an absurdly obvious conflict-of-interest in promoting him:

To pre-order the e-book version of

P. David Hornik

’s memoir Israel Odyssey go here for Amazon and here for Barnes and Noble.

Who did you read the most last month? Who challenged you with the boldest ideas and most original thinking? Please do let me know who I need to check out and consider for June’s round-up.

energetic applause an audience of angels

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