Announcing My New Book

Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better

It has been six years since my last book, and today I’m announcing a new one: Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better, coming May 5, 2026 (and available for preorder now).

It was six years between my first book, The Sports Gene, and my second, Range, and by the time Inside the Box comes out it will have been seven years between books two and three.

The writer Ted Chiang was once asked in an interview if he ever considered publishing more frequently. Chiang, one of the greatest living fiction writers (the sci-fi film Arrival is based on one of his short stories), has only published two story collections—the first in 2002, and the next in 2019.

Here is how Chiang replied:

“There’s no one who wishes I were more prolific more than I do. If I could produce stories more quickly, I would, but by now I think it’s safe to say that my rate of production isn’t likely to increase.”

Like Chiang, my process is slow. In the first year of a book project, I don’t even write—only research. And, like Chiang, no one wishes I could do it more quickly than I do, but I think it’s safe to say that my process will remain slow.

As Chiang explained in words he plucked straight from my brain: “Writing is hard for me, and an idea has to be really thought-provoking for me to put in the necessary effort.” The idea of how constraints can be useful—rather than just limiting in bad ways—has fascinated me since I was a college student and took a class in East Asian literature, where we learned that the form of haiku liberates rather than stifles creativity.

I’ll be writing about the ideas in the book more in the coming months. For now, a quick introduction in the video below:

Thank you, as always, for reading and listening. And if you liked this post, please share it!

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Until next time…

David