📚 Princess saving app, Types of luck, Unified theory of deliciousness, Congestion tax, Consensus of the Conclave

Happiest country, Unparalleled misalignments, Ancient glacial caves and more

Hello, this is post #212.

Curating this piece from my favorite reading nook in our new home; it feels surreal. When we first visited this place four years ago, this very corner took our breath away. It played a big part in our decision to make this space our own. And now, it’s finally real.

This week was full of action: moving day on Tuesday, setup on Wednesday, and then some deep thinking and debates at the office offsite on Friday and Saturday. Somewhere in the chaos, I managed to steal a few quiet moments to read and refuel my mind and heart.

I’m glad I did. Today’s picks are the fruit of those stolen moments. Right now, I feel content. Life is beautiful.

Take a look at what I’ve got for you today:

And with that, let’s get to the main features.

---

🎮 Building a Princess Saving App

Daniel Cook breaks down Super Mario (and a few other classics) to show how games build learning and fun into the experience. I especially liked his idea of ‘exploratory learning’. Here’s a snapshot from the slide that explains it:

Games are such fascinating products. I always love deep dives that help us understand them and the "theory of fun" better. If you haven’t already, check out Anna Anthropy’s “To the right, hold on tight.” it’s my most recommended read on this topic!

---

🤞 4 Types of Luck

Tom Orbach’s Marketing Ideas is one of my favorite newsletters on marketing and growth. Each post is built around a sharp insight, brought to life with loads of real-world examples. I’ve had many aha moments reading his work.

In a recent post, Tom shares how he created his luck to win a $10,000 prize—a fun story, even if he admits those tricks wouldn’t work today.

Here’s a quick snippet that offers a fresh way to think about luck.

For the other three, Tom shares his simple formula: Luck = Doing × Telling.

You get the idea. As always, his storytelling brings it to life in a fun, memorable way—definitely worth a read.

---

🍜 Unified Theory of Deliciousness

Chef David Chang’s “Unified Theory of Deliciousness” breaks down his secret code for creating unforgettable flavors. As the founder of Momofuku and the force behind 13 globally renowned restaurants, he’s someone worth listening to.

What really struck me was one simple truth—not about fancy culinary tricks, but the heart of what makes good food good. The magic ingredient, if you will.

To me this is what separates the good dishes from the truly slap-yourself-on-the-forehead ones. When you eat something amazing, you don’t just respond to the dish in front of you; you are almost always transported back to another moment in your life. It’s like that scene in Ratatouille when the critic eats a fancy version of the titular dish and gets whisked back to the elemental version of his childhood. The easiest way to accomplish this is just to cook something that people have eaten a million times. But it’s much more powerful to evoke those taste memories while cooking something that seems unfamiliar—to hold those base patterns constant while completely changing the context.

---

🏡 The Fewer the Merrier

Samuel Hughes lays out the case for unified land ownership in his Works in Progress piece, The fewer the merrier. He explores a development model where private landowners—often painted as profit-hungry—end up creating more public goods than traditional economics would predict. That twist alone makes the piece worth reading.

Having lived in large residential societies, I’ve seen how shared amenities can shape community life. It’s a privilege, no doubt—but Hughes shows how thoughtful design could bring similar benefits to people across income levels. A thought-provoking read.

Where there is unified ownership, developing landowners have incentives to provide public goods. They lay out generous interconnected street networks; they provide parks, gardens and street trees; they curate the facades and front garden of each building to ensure it presents a gracious aspect onto its neighbors; they devote land to shopping crescents that produce relatively little revenue, and to churches and community buildings that produce none at all. None of these things happen when neighborhoods are developed under fragmented ownership, unless the public authorities intervene to ensure that they do.

This is the third week in a row I’m featuring something from the Works in Progress newsletter. I’m always blown away by the range and originality of their topics. Each piece dives deep but stays fun to read. If you enjoy being surprised every other week, this is one newsletter you should definitely subscribe to.

---

🛣️ Congestion Tax

A couple of years ago, the state government proposed a congestion tax on nine of the most traffic-heavy routes in Bangalore. The reaction? Widespread outrage. Most people mocked the idea—why penalize those already stuck in traffic? And for many, these routes weren’t a choice, but the only way to get to work or home. I had a similar reaction. I didn’t fully understand the concept back then. I’m not sure where that proposal stands now—probably gathering dust in some forgotten file.

Meanwhile, New York City went ahead with a similar plan, and the results have been fascinating. From what I’ve read, it seems to be working well—no major fallout, and some positive shifts.

This New York Times report card offers a solid overview. It breaks down how congestion pricing affects transportation, public services, and local businesses. A great 101 if you’re curious about how such policies actually play out.

---

🔮 Casual Explorations

A handful of short reads I stumbled upon and enjoyed — a nice little palate cleanser.

1. Consensus of the Conclave – John O. McGinnis takes us through the history and function of the rules that govern the Conclave that selects the Pope. It’s a quick read packed with fun trivia and core insights into human behavior.

Soon afterwards, Gregory X made cutting rations part of the formal rules governing the conclave. If, after three days, the conclave had not selected a Pope, the cardinals would face an enforced diet. Though medieval in origin, the ration-cutting rule squarely tackles a real weakness of supermajority voting spotted by modern theorists: spiraling decision costs.

2. My miserable week in the ‘Happiest Country on Earth.’ Molly Young attempts to understand ‘happiness’. A travelog, an essay, a beautiful collection of observations and beautiful wordplays.

All of this was enchanting, but it was a piece of signage that took my breath away. At home in Brooklyn, the library is papered with reminders to “Please keep your voice down.” In contradistinction, the signs at Oodi said, “Please let others work in peace!” The two commands are almost — but meaningfully not — synonymous. The Brooklyn version is a plea for self-control. The Finnish version is a request to acknowledge the existence of other people. You see the difference.

---

✨ Everything else

1. Shaan Puri’s “5 Tweet Tuesday” delivers five tweet-sized gems every week. His curation is sharp, and the commentary nails it. Here’s a recent one to give you a taste.

2. Ryan Newburn captures the raw, ancient beauty of Iceland’s glacial caves—his photos are absolutely stunning. Nature at its most surreal. His Instagram feed is a visual treat, with every shot telling a story you can’t look away from.

3. Deer country // Stagnation, Mailman // Reply Guy, Frequent Flyer // Daily Mail. These are all Unparalleled misalignments. Lot more in the link. People can chase and collect anything.

---

ICYMI…

Here’s a quick link to last week’s post:

📚 Luxury senior living, Bob Moesta’s magic, Future of silk, Make assertions, Millennial hobby energy

---

That's all for this week, folks!

I hope I've earned the privilege of your time.

If this piece sparked something for you, I’d love to hear what stood out—leave a comment and let’s keep the conversation alive. And if you know someone who’s always asking "why?" or "how come?", pass this along to them. The world gets more interesting every time a curious mind shares what they’ve found.

Pritesh