Hello, members—
I’M NEW HERE
My name is Walter Frick and I’m Quartz’s new membership editor. I look forward to getting to know as many of you as I can. Please send me an email if you’d like to say hi: walter@qz.com.
THE SCIENCE OF SPEED READING
“For decades, researchers have downgraded speed reading as bogus,” reports Michael Tabb in the latest episode of his video series Exceptional Humans. “But now some scientists are saying it’s entirely possible—most of us are just doing it wrong.”
Speed reading is controversial, but Tabb visits a lab in Germany that claims to have preliminary evidence that speed reading is possible and that some strategies to read faster can work.
You can watch other episodes in our Exceptional Humans series here.
EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS
ETFs have exploded in popularity in recent years, offering investors a cheap way to hold a broad basket of assets. But their prevalence isn’t entirely positive. This week’s presentation charts the rapid rise of ETFs, which you can see in the slide below. It also explores the types of investors that ETFs attract, and the funds’ downsides.
Think of this as a taste of next week’s field guide, which will be all about ETFs, and how they’ve changed the way stock markets function. It includes the story of an investor who learned the hard way what happens when liquidity in the ETF market dries up.
TODAY’S CALL ON BIG TECH
What do you want to know about reining in tech companies? Quartz reporter Alison Griswold will discuss her field guide on taming Big Tech with Quartz global finance and economics editor Jason Karaian in a conference call with members today at 11:00am ET. We’ll be taking questions and comments live on the video conference call at this time, accessible at the usual location. You can also send questions in advance to members@qz.com.
If you’d like to dial in, use the following numbers:
UK: 0800-014 8469
USA: 866-226 4650
For all of the numbers, the access code is 722 994 440. And you can find recordings of our past video calls here.
Walter Frick
Membership editor, Quartz