Appendix
Filed gratitude. Thank you.
The Department’s Logbook does not stand alone. The ideas I develop and expand on are largely influenced by the thinkers and writers below (this is a growing list). These are the works I return to again and again, with dog-eared pages and annotations.
Donald Braben — Scientific Freedom: The Elixir of Civilization
Such a formative, core read. A blueprint for what science looked like before the managerial age. Braben’s push for “venture research” is felt in nearly every page of the Logbook. Thank you to Stripe Press for bringing this to wider circulation.
Vannevar Bush — Pieces of the Action
Pieces is the core of what scientific leadership could be, from the time of writing (1970) but still relevant today. Supplement with Endless Frontier.
Patrick Collison & Tyler Cowen — We Need a New Science of Progress
A framing manifesto for a generation of thinkers rebuilding epistemic and economic optimism.
→ We Need a New Science of Progress
Stuart Buck (Good Science Project)
Stuart’s writing is grounded and actionable — a rare combination.
→ How to Improve Both Scientific Innovation and Reproducibility at Once
→ The Paradox of Progress – guest piece by Aishwarya Khanduja
Nadia Asparouhova — Understanding Science Funding in Tech
An incisive walkthrough of how innovation ecosystems diverge — and why tech has moved faster than academic science.
→ Understanding Science Funding
Patrick Collison & Michael Nielsen — Science is Getting Less Bang for its Buck
A sober but essential reckoning with the idea that we’re not just progressing slowly — we may be slowing down.
→ Science is Getting Less Bang for its Buck
Jay Bhattacharya & Mikko Packalen — Stagnation and Scientific Incentives
This NBER working paper is a quiet giant. It links incentive decay to stagnation with empirical analysis.
Matt Clancy — New Things Under the Sun
An evolving encyclopedia of empirics, policy tools, and meta-questions in innovation studies. Multiple pieces are referenced throughout.
Peter Leyden — The Great Progression
A techno-optimist roadmap built on long-cycle historical perspective. Idealism with receipts.
Alex Danco — Scarcity and Abundance in 2025
Danco’s frame-breaking short essays reveal how new infrastructure emerges — often sideways, not straight-on. Bonus points for roots in Canada.