Collections

Bob's Almanack

Weekly Outside In Print issues from Robert V. Ussley, gathering new essays, cartoons, compact notices, and worth reprinting.

Weekly almanack · Essays, cartoons, notices, and archive circulation

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

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?

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

A staged lane for essays on courts, federalism, and public institutions once the body of work is coherent enough to publish.

Essays · Courts, institutions, and public power