TLDR:

Finished my PhD in 2014

Was a professor of Political Science for 5 years

Quit to pioneer a new business model as a full-time independent scholar on the internet (took another 5 years)

The result is this newsletter (and some other things)

Here is what readers say

“I love your work, you are a heterodox thinker.”

—Jon Haidt, Social Psychologist at NYU

“Overheard in Silicon Valley: ‘The @jmrphy quote tweets are all people coping that the tweet is true.’”

—Marc Andreessen, investor

“Bizarre.”

—The Daily Mail

You should subscribe

It’s a weekly newsletter of wild ideas

I study the books and lives of the wildest thinkers in history

I share the ups and downs of my own indie scholar hustle

And I try to share the raw truth of everything I’m seeing and learning

You’re joining ~9,000 readers, writers, professionals, and all kinds of independent scholar types

We’re building a private republic of letters and we hope you will join us

The most recent photo I could find in my phone