Sean Oldham

Books

Book Review of The Art Thief, Or How to Steal Beauty Without Selling a Thing

I came for the heist, but stayed for the unsettling portrait of obsession. The Art Thief is a slow-burn true crime story that got under my skin.

Tangent

My First Pinball Machine, My New Obsession

A 1980 Bally Space Invaders pinball machine turned out to be more than a game. It’s a puzzle, a project, and a family teacher.

Tangent

How a Family Board Game Became the Perfect Metaphor for Inequality

Monopoly doesn’t just predict capitalism. It simulates it, from OPEC to Wall Street to the IMF.

Scribble

The Lost Art of Not Being Available

Being offline used to be sacred. Now it’s just a setting.

Books

Book Review: We’ve Got to Try—and Keep Trying

Beto doesn’t write like a politician, he writes like someone who still believes Texas can save itself.

Scribble

Nighthawks at Home

We learned our city through windows and quiet streets, like living in the glow of Nighthawks.

Tangent

There’s No Such Thing as Left and Right in Space

Space breaks “left” and “right.” Navigation there is built on absolutes, not Earth’s shortcuts.

Tangent

Why Do Airplanes Look Like That?

The design secrets behind the world’s most recognizable silhouette

Curious

Learning to Be Wrong

The smartest people aren’t always right—they’re just the fastest to admit when they’re wrong.

Scribble

The Strange Comfort of Typing Over Writing

Somewhere along the way, typing became the default, and my handwriting started feeling like a backup skill I haven’t practiced in years.

Design

The Most Useful Concept You’ve Never Heard Of

That door you pulled the wrong way? That wasn’t your fault. It was bad affordance design. Let’s talk about the hidden rules that shape the world.

Knowledge

What We Know and How We Know It

From tribal intuition to documented facts, knowledge takes many forms—and each one matters in different ways.