Words That Matter

Polina Pompliano: Betting on Yourself, Status, Grief, Memory, Travel, Hidden Genius

Polina Pompliano is the founder of The Profile, an independent media company known for longform profiles of influential founders, investors, athletes…

May 17 • Ben Springwater and Polina Pompliano

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Bentham's Bulldog: Singer, Suffering, 500 Million, Why God Exists, Dilbert, Unweaving

Famine, Affluence, and Morality is one of the most influential works of philosophy ever written. It makes the case clearly that we have a duty to donate…

May 10 • Ben Springwater and Bentham's Bulldog

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Ashlee Vance: Belief, Lynch, Eden, Bobby Fingers, Gambler, Bliss of Excess

Welcome to a new issue of Words That Matter! Each week, we invite a guest curator to share the reading that matters most to them.

May 2 • Ben Springwater and Ashlee Vance

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April 2026

Zohar Atkins: Mice, Miracle, Larry David, Poets, Separation, Tyrant as Editor

Welcome to a new issue of Words That Matter! Each week, we invite a guest curator to share the reading that matters most to them.

Apr 25 • Ben Springwater and Zohar Atkins

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Cate Hall: Agency, Goddess of Cancer, Cat's Cradle, The Egg, Dream Mashups, Bukowski, Sasha

Cate Hall is the author of the Useful Fictions (Ben’s favorite Substack of the past year) and the forthcoming book You Can Just Do Things, co-written…

Apr 18 • Ben Springwater and Cate Hall

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Anna Gát: Bye Mom, Freud, Body Horror, 50 Things, Against Nature

Welcome to a new issue of Words That Matter! Each week, we invite a guest curator to share the reading that matters most to them.

Apr 12 • Ben Springwater and Anna Gát

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Nan Ransohoff: Finding Things Out, Double Life, Matriarch, Inputs, Evil, the Beatles

Nan leads Stripe Climate and founded Frontier, a $1B+ advance market commitment for permanent carbon removal. Please enjoy these works and words that…

Apr 3 • Ben Springwater and Nan Ransohoff

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March 2026

Read Something Wonderful: Self-Respect, Fast, Diamond, Elephants, Sweat, Stay in the Game

Welcome to a new issue of Words That Matter! This week, in lieu of a guest curator, we’re sharing ten gems pulled at random from Read Something…

Mar 28 • Ben Springwater

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Nabeel Qureshi: Iliad, Context, Dead, Fake Thinking, Be Specific

Welcome to a new issue of Words That Matter! Each week, we invite a guest curator to share the reading that matters most to them.

Mar 21 • Ben Springwater and Nabeel S. Qureshi

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Sari Azout: Mother, Where Do You Stand, Third Chair, Crazy, Nirvana

Welcome to a new issue of Words That Matter! Each week, we invite a guest curator to share the reading that matters most to them.

Mar 7 • Ben Springwater and Sari Azout

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February 2026

Rohit Krishnan: Strange Loops, Exit and Voice, Tlön, Pratchett, How Life Works

Welcome to a new issue of Words That Matter! Each week, we invite a guest curator to share the reading that matters most to them.

Feb 28 • Ben Springwater and Rohit Krishnan

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Jasmine Sun: Ender, Counterculture, Charisma, Sontag, If You Do Everything

Welcome to a new issue of Words That Matter! Each week, we invite a guest curator to share the reading that matters most to them.

Feb 16 • Ben Springwater and Jasmine Sun

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