7 Stories to read this weekend

And I am back after a two week break — I was in Paris for Le Web — with seven stories for you to enjoy this weekend.

• Nobel laureate and economist Paul Krugman says that for some, Ayn Rand’s novels or Tolkien’s The Lord of Rings have a lasting impact. For him that lasting impact came from Asimov’s Foundation novels and have had a lasting influence on his economics.
• Six things that suck the life out of your productivity: Just read this, bookmark it and read it every day to remind you how to get it all figured out.
• The rise and fall of Nails: The story of Lenny Dykstra, a well-known baseball player, is a cautionary tale of how fame goes wrong.
• Adam Brault quit Twitter for a month and found his soul and sanity. One of the best pieces you will read this week.
• The empathic machine: Sherlock Holmes was right that seeing through another’s eyes needs a detached mind and not just a warm heart, writes Maria Konnikova, author of forthcoming book, MasterMind.
• In the Rust Belt, a teenager climbs out of poverty: This is a great, heart warming story of Tabitha Rouzzo. It is inspirational and uplifting.
• In memoriam, Ravi Shankar: The influence and legacy of late sitar maestro.