Bob's Almanack
Weekly Outside In Print issues from Robert V. Ussley, gathering new essays, cartoons, compact notices, and one piece worth reprinting.
Weekly almanack · Essays, cartoons, notices, and archive circulation
Collections
Collections gather connected essays into guided reading lanes across the archive. Use them when you want an editorial thread instead of a simple timeline.
14 public collections · 205 published pieces
Series
Recurring editorial threads built to be entered at one strong starting point and then followed in sequence.
Simple Logic
Short logical arguments that test a public claim by following its own premises.
Short arguments · Logic, premises, and public meaning
Start here: Colored Glasses: The Lens of Race
Musings
Short source-free reflections on attention, ordinary life, and questions that remain open.
Short blurbs · Attention, experience, and meaning
The Things We Say
Plain personal reflections built around the words we choose and the lives we practice.
Affirmations · Affirmations, identity, and action
Start here: I Do What I Say
Syd and Oliver Dialogues
A conversational archive of pieces on truth, power, money, obligation, and meaning.
Dialogues · Truth, power, and moral imagination
Start here: Without A Word
Modern Bios
Archival civic biographies of recent public figures, written as restrained record-driven essays for the imprint.
Civic biographies · Public lives, institutions, and cultural memory
Start here: How Jack Stratton Hacked the Music Industry with Funk, Friends, and Irresistible Groove
Lit Review
Reviews and close readings of books and narrative works that stay with theme, structure, and why a story endures.
Reviews and close readings · Books and narrative criticism
Start here: The Three-Body Problem: A Sci-Fi Epic That Redefines Civilization’s Place in the Universe
Reported Case Studies
Tightly reported case studies that stay with one event, institution, or failure long enough to learn something durable.
Case studies · Reported events and institutional failures
Start here: What Happened at Camp Mystic?
Topics
Curated subject lanes that gather essays around one enduring question, pressure, or field.
Risk, Uncertainty, and Decision-Making
Essays about uncertainty, tradeoffs, risk framing, and decision-making under imperfect information.
Essays · Risk, uncertainty, and decisions
Start here: What Is Risk? A Four-Part Framework
Geopolitics, Trade, and Global Power
Essays on foreign policy, trade, energy chokepoints, strategic technology, and the hard machinery of global power.
Essays · Geopolitics, trade, and global power
Start here: The World Is Back at the Poker Table
Floods, Water, and the Built Environment
Reporting and essays on flood risk, water systems, riverine disasters, and the places we keep building anyway.
Essays and field cases · Floods, water, and infrastructure
Start here: What Happened at Camp Mystic?
Technology, AI, and the Machine Future
Essays on artificial intelligence, compute, machine systems, and the social future they are dragging into view.
Essays · AI, compute, and machine systems
Start here: Synthetic Reasoning
Moral, Religious, and Philosophical Essays
Essays on moral formation, religion, conscience, and the philosophical habits needed to see clearly.
Essays · Moral, religious, and philosophical reflection
Start here: In The Image of God
Civic Institutions and Public Power
Essays on courts, federalism, public institutions, and the exercise of public power.
Essays · Courts, institutions, and public power