Hello, and welcome to Range Widely!
I know this is technically the second post at Range Widely’s new Substack home, but it’s the right time for a quick intro, and an announcement.
For the last year, this newsletter has been a place to practice what I extolled in my book, Range. I have used it to broaden my view of the world by connecting ideas, grappling with scientific research, interviewing thinkers who challenge and inspire me, occasionally publicly changing my mind about something important, and — ya know — arguing back and forth with Malcolm Gladwell. My hope in doing this is always that I also expand your range a bit.
I want to keep building this newsletter, and so I want to share (below) a new way that you can support what I do here at Range Widely.
Quick background: Last year, I was invited to bring my nascent newsletter to the new Bulletin platform. There I joined a pilot group that included science writers I’d long followed, like Adam Grant and Emily Nagoski. The support from Bulletin — a licensing fee, a Getty Images subscription, legal review, and more — was great for Range Widely.
With that support, I started creating posts that were more time-intensive. Q&As, for example, were almost non-existent in my newsletter prior to the Bulletin move. I do a lot of homework in order to make the most of an interviewee’s time, and those posts often require me to transcribe a recording and then do substantial editing for length. But I’ve noticed that readers like them, and several have been among my most popular posts. (And I have some good ones planned!)
Along with that, I continued to do my oddball posts. (To my everlasting surprise, the most popular Bulletin post was: “A Technique Championed by Russian Writers (And Fraggles) Can Give You a New Perspective.” You people and your taste! 🙃) And I continued to dissect misleading science even when (or especially when) it made the front section of the New York Times.
At Bulletin, I also started responding to the majority of reader comments below posts, sometimes at great length. The comments were a really pleasant surprise: a place where I shared personal anecdotes, talked about my writing process, learned from readers, and often thanked people with whom I disagreed. Engaging with comments was time-consuming — and really rewarding.
Bottom line: Range Widely got a lot better, and more interactive, because of the support I received at Bulletin. I would like to keep it that way. But Bulletin is closing up shop at the end of the year. That’s why I’m offering *voluntary* paid subscriptions for $5/month or $50/year. If you’ve found value in this newsletter, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Basically you can spend $5 a month on three of FTX’s FTT tokens, or on making this newsletter better. Both will have a -100% financial return for you, but with Range Widely you will experience alternative forms of lasting compensation.
If you happen to think someone else might enjoy supporting Range Widely (it comes with outstanding karma) more than the FTT tokens you were about to give them, the gift-giving time of year is upon us!
Whatever you choose, I’m glad to have you here. Interacting with (and learning from) readers of this newsletter has been a massive perk. I look forward to expanding our range together.
Thanks for reading. Until next time…
David
P.S. If you join as a “founding member,” (i.e. contributing more than $5), you should get a special badge that shows up when you leave comments.
Welcome to Range Widely on Substack!
I vibed with everything you wrote. I'm also looking to expand my horizons and what better way than to follow writers looking to do the same!
"Basically you can spend $5 a month on three of FTX’s FTT tokens, or on making this newsletter better. Both will have a -100% financial return for you, but with Range Widely you will experience alternative forms of lasting compensation."
^This paragraph convinced me to subscribe. Something about -100% financial return was apparently intriguing to me 😂
Well I was totally on the fence till your e-mail showed me the financial return compared to FTX, so I HAD to sign up :)
In all seriousness, your work is terrific, happy to support it and be part of your community.