Caleb Zakarin

We’ve hit a new milestone! 1 5 0 members in our @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social podcast host group over on LinkedIn! A big welcome to everyone who's recently joined. It's amazing to see a space for #podcast enthusiasts to support each other. Excited to learn from all of you and see where we go next!

Ideas Podcast: Looking for a Story Looking for a Story is a complete reader’s guide to McPhee’s vast published work, documenting much rarely seen or connected with McPhee, including remarkable early writing for Time magazine published ...

@calebzakarin.bsky.social, editor of the @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social, interviewed me for a podcast about my John McPhee book. It's a wide-ranging conversation, including talking about what makes McPhee so extraordinary and the many discoveries in the book.
bit.ly/3SyEvXT

Great to see my new book "Coming Clean" (@mitpress) highlighted by @calebzakarin.bsky.social, Editor of the @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social. We discussed the future of progressive #politics.
newbooksnetwork.com/coming-clean

Thanks to @princetonupress.bsky.social and to @calebzakarin.bsky.social, a terrific interviewer.

What Substacks should I subscribe to?

The Art of the Book Deal How professor Samuel G. Freedman has helped more than a hundred students get coveted book contracts.

magazine.columbia.edu/article/art-...

Colleges Fear Decline in International Student Enrollment International students are a financial lifeline for many colleges, and enrollments are just recovering from the pandemic. The Trump administration is pushing them away.

This will be a boon for elite, non-American institutions. Classes are better when the student body is internationally diverse. We make education in America more parochial at our own peril.

www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...

Harvard expands financial aid — Harvard Gazette New effort ensures that more undergraduates, especially from middle-income families, will receive support.

Middle class families are often squeezed the hardest by higher ed tuitions. I imagine the high fees, without a clear return on investment especially for parents, are a major source of the backlash against elite institutions.

news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

YouTube video by STM - International Association of STM Publishers The second digital transformation of scholarly publishing

Some useful background info:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=23Np...

A Second Digital Transformation for Scholarly Monographs? Today, Roger Schonfeld examines several key drivers transforming the monographs marketplace and reflects on strategic opportunities ahead.

"Ultimately, the transition beyond single title purchase models for ebooks seems to be picking up, suggesting a sort of second digital transformation for the monograph..."
@rschon.bsky.social

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/03/19/s...

Europe courts US scientists fleeing Donald Trump crackdown Cambridge university among institutions seeing chance to hire talent unsettled by US spending cuts

Europe courts US scientists after cuts

on.ft.com/41xIOqy Europe courts US scientists fleeing Donald Trump crackdown

Tea Time Featuring the 6th Annual African American Book Festival in San Antonio, Episodes on Tea, Talking Thai Politics, Meet a Host, and the NBN YouTube channel

TEA TIME!

Read the latest edition of our newsletter every Thursday.

newbooksnetwork.substack.com/p/tea-time

I’ll be at odd lots trivia tonight

The electric red pill acid test

I completely believed this

This is such a great book! Glad you’re giving Fritz coverage.

Fuego

The Deregulation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau One of the Right's long running projects is now being enacted with help from Silicon Valley and Wall St.

I wrote up what happened to the CFPB this weekend, made possible by a years long lobbying campaign by Wall St and a recent push by Silicon Valley. Plus, a bunch of under the radar recent actions the Bureau took that enraged the business world

Balaji strikes me as third-rate Yarvin, which is really, really depressing.

@lukewgoldstein.bsky.social

Social media Guernica

Just wrapped our weekly roundup show with @lukewgoldstein.bsky.social, where we broke the news: this is the final day of his 2-year fellowship with @theprospect.bsky.social. It was a great run and we look forward to seeing his career continue. Congratulations!

TBF, he said he deleted it, not Akash.

I've listened to a few interviews with Lionel Barber about his new book on Masayoshi Son, including his profile in the @financialtimes.com. I might have to buy the book...

newbooksnetwork.com/gambling-man

Back of the envelope, we’d need to set global tariffs at 120% to match current tax revenue.

An interview I recently did with Rumu Sarkar on international development. Seems relevant.

newbooksnetwork.com/internationa...

Excellent essay

If there is any doubt that tariffs are passed through to consumers, the cost of propane to heat my house just went up by the amount of the tariff

May 15, 2026 will be a very interesting/scary day.