By Alex Warfel

Commonplace

A reader’s notebook of passages worth keeping, with notes on what they mean. Each edition follows a few big questions through books, essays, and art.

The Ninth Wave

Issue one · Fall 2026

Why are we so bad at judging risk?

  • Why are we so bad at judging risk?
  • Who really runs things?
  • Who is responsible when a system does the killing?
  • Where do our values come from?
Read issue one →

More editions to come.

Like this kind of thinking?

Alex Warfel writes Fair Value, essays on markets, decisions, and the tradeoffs nobody names out loud.

Subscribe to Fair Value