By night we play music with townies. But by day we anesthetize, philosophize, and preach in attempt to numb the pain of surgical knives (Nate), market failure (John), anxiety (Adam, albeit loosely), and existential malaise (me, even more loosely). My anesthetic is academic research. In this post, I discuss the articles that have most transformed the way I think, write, and see the world.

Time is scarce, so I limited myself to one article per decade. If you haven’t read these articles, I encourage you to do so. If you have different picks, add them in the comments.