The "Key Posts" link in navigation at the top of my blog lists all important posts through the end of 2016. Along with
this is intended as a complement to that list. (Also, my most popular storified Twitter discussions are here, and you can see other recent posts by clicking on the Archive link at the top of my blog.) Continuing this tradition, I give links to the most popular posts in the first half of 2021 below into six groups: popular new posts in 2021 on diet and health, popular new posts in 2021 on political philosophy, popular new posts in 2021 on other topics, and popular older posts in those three categories. I provide the pageviews in the first half of 2021 for each post as counted when someone went specifically to that post. All the posts with 100 or more pageviews in the first half of 2021 are included.
I am pleased to be able to report 327,518 Google Analytics pageviews in the first half of 2021—over 50,000 pageviews per month. Of these, 18,061 were pageviews for my blog homepage. One other thing that stands out from the data is how well my back catalog does because of Google search.
New Posts in 2021 on Diet and Health
How to Summarize a Big Chunk of Nutrition Research: Almost Anything You Are Likely to Think Of Is Better Than the Standard American Diet 887
Evaluating Sweden's Food Guidelines 240
How Many Thousands of Americans Will the Sugar Lobby's Latest Victory Kill? 192
Elizabeth Bernstein on Getting Better Sleep 180
On the Keto Diet 166
Sugar Rots Your Teeth. Sugar Kills. So Don't Eat It. 150
Starving Cancer Cells: We Need Metabolic Oncology, Stat! 149
Semaglutide Looks Like the First Truly Impressive Weight-Loss Drug 138
In Praise of the Squatty Potty 136
How to Make Ramadan Fasting—or Any Other Religious Fasting—Easier 133
Why Leptin Isn't a Blockbuster Weight-Loss Drug 130
New Posts in 2021 on Political Philosophy
Peggy Noonan: Bring the Insurrectionists to Justice 160
The Federalist Papers #22 C: Pillars of Democracy—The Judicial System, Military Loyal to the Constitution, and Police Loyal to the Constitution 145
New Posts in 2021 on Other Topics
Friedrich Hayek on John Maynard Keynes: Keynes was Brilliant, but Economics was Only a Sideline for Him (video post) 6,489
The Devil of Getting Criticized 1,256
Higher Capital Requirement May Be Privately Costly to Banks, But Their Financial Stability Benefits Come at a Near Zero Cost to Society 1,096
My Sister Sarah 567
Preparing the Ground for Mathematical Creativity 317
Did the Pandemic Speed Up Productivity Growth? 281
A Political Economy Externality that Should Be Taught in Every ‘Principals of Economics’ Course 234
The Optimal Rate of Inflation 219
My Sister-in-Law Becky Porter Kimball 219
Why You Should Impute Equal Credit to Co-Authors in Economics 200
The Four Horsemen of Relationship Destruction 199
Why Thinking Geometrically and Graphically is Such a Powerful Way to Do Math 175
Reactions to Miles’s Program For Enhancing Economists’ Scientific Creativity, Engagement and Impact 158
Tiktok of Econolimerick #1 149
Elizabeth MacBride: Leonardo Da Vinci is History’s Best Case for Wasting Time (link post) 143
Chris Carroll, Martin Blomhoff Holm and Miles Kimball: Liquidity Constraints and Precautionary Saving 138
On the Oppression of Women 127
Easter Skepticism 118
Only What is in Our Power is Our Duty 117
Critiquing the Wall Street Journal Editorial Pages on Fiscal Policy 101
Larry Summers Should Not Be Critical of Price-Level Targeting that Allows Inflation Above Target If It has been Below Target for a While 101
Older Posts with Continuing Popularity on Diet and Health
Reexamining Steve Gundry's `The Plant Paradox’ 37,609
Which Nonsugar Sweeteners are OK? An Insulin-Index Perspective 29,125
Why a Low-Insulin-Index Diet Isn't Exactly a 'Lowcarb' Diet 14,502
How Fasting Can Starve Cancer Cells, While Leaving Normal Cells Unharmed 7,705
Whole Milk Is Healthy; Skim Milk Less So 4,570
Can Fasting Help Fight the Coronavirus? 2,600
Obesity Is Always and Everywhere an Insulin Phenomenon 2,339
Stop Counting Calories; It's the Clock that Counts 1,959
The New England Journal of Medicine Review of the Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging and Disease 1,575
Miles Kimball on Diet and Health: A Reader's Guide 1,165
What Steven Gundry's Book 'The Plant Paradox' Adds to the Principles of a Low-Insulin-Index Diet 1,034
Jason Fung: Dietary Fat is Innocent of the Charges Leveled Against It 963
My Annual Anti-Cancer Fast 926
Evidence that High Insulin Levels Lead to Weight Gain 901
3 Achievable Resolutions for Weight Loss 899
Exorcising the Devil in the Milk 848
Using the Glycemic Index as a Supplement to the Insulin Index 846
Carbon Dioxide as a Stimulant for Respiratory Function 658
The Keto Food Pyramid 619
Jason Fung's Single Best Weight Loss Tip: Don't Eat All the Time 611
Nutritionally, Not All Apple Varieties Are Alike 588
Meat Is Amazingly Nutritious—But Is It Amazingly Nutritious for Cancer Cells, Too? 575
The Case Against Sugar: Stephan Guyenet vs. Gary Taubes 543
Layne Norton Discusses the Stephan Guyenet vs. Gary Taubes Debate (a Debate on Joe Rogan’s Podcast) 532
Our Delusions about 'Healthy' Snacks—Nuts to That! 514
Cancer Cells Love Sugar; That’s How PET Scans for Cancer Work 479
Intense Dark Chocolate: A Review 447
On Exercise and Weight Loss 439
Vindicating Gary Taubes: A Smackdown of Seth Yoder 430
Lisa Drayer: Is Fasting the Fountain of Youth? 428
Beware: Monk Fruit Nonsugar Sweetener Raises Insulin 419
'Is Milk Ok?' Revisited 378
David Ludwig: It Takes Time to Adapt to a Lowcarb, Highfat Diet 370
4 Propositions on Weight Loss 358
My Giant Salad 354
Kevin D. Hall and Juen Guo: Why it is So Hard to Lose Weight and So Hard to Keep it Off 350
Letting Go of Sugar 346
Best Health Guide: 10 Surprising Changes When You Quit Sugar 343
How Important is A1 Milk Protein as a Public Health Issue? 340
The Problem with Processed Food 340
Which Is Worse for You: Sugar or Fat? 334
Why You Should Worry about Cancer Promotion by Diet as Much as You Worry about Cancer Initiation by Carcinogens 328
Sugar as a Slow Poison 305
Anthony Komaroff: The Microbiome and Risk for Obesity and Diabetes 304
The Case Against Monosodium Glutamate—Why MSG is Dangerous (as are Other Sources of Free Glutamate) and How the Dangers Have Been Covered Up 304
Carola Binder—Why You Should Get More Vitamin D: The Recommended Daily Allowance for Vitamin D Was Underestimated Due to Statistical Illiteracy 288
A Modern World of Endemic Jaw Dysfunction 288
After Gastric Bypass Surgery, Insulin Goes Down Before Weight Loss has Time to Happen 268
Fasting Tips 258
How Sugar, Too Much Protein, Inflammation and Injury Could Drive Epigenetic Cellular Evolution Toward Cancer 247
Don't Tar Fasting by those of Normal or High Weight with the Brush of Anorexia 216
Good News! Cancer Cells are Metabolically Handicapped 212
Yes, Sugar is Really Bad for You 197
How Low Insulin Opens a Way to Escape Dieting Hell 190
On 'Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Understanding and Applying Health Benefits of Fasting' by Stephen D. Anton et al. 179
Jane Brody on Intermittent Fasting 177
A Low-Glycemic-Index Vegan Diet as a Moderately-Low-Insulin-Index Diet 167
The Trouble with Most Psychological Approaches to Weight Loss: They Assume the Biology is Obvious, When It Isn't 160
Eggs May Be a Type of Food You Should Eat Sparingly, But Don't Blame Cholesterol Yet 158
Inducing Autophagy 147
Diseases of Civilization 144
On Minimalist Shoes 140
Fasting Before Feasting 137
Salt Is Not the Nutritional Evil It Is Made Out to Be 126
In Praise of Avocados 122
Human Skulls, Ancient and Modern 117
Mass In/Mass Out: A Satire of Calories In/Calories Out 114
Is Milk OK? 112
Cost Benefit Analysis Applied to Neti Pot Use 112
How Sugar Makes People Hangry 108
Have We Gone Too Far with Sunscreen? 106
Black Bean Brownies 104
A Barycentric Autobiography 102
The Case Against the Case Against Sugar: Seth Yoder vs. Gary Taubes 101
Older Posts with Continuing Popularity on Political Philosophy
The Social Contract According to John Locke 28,353
Liberty and the Golden Rule 2,025
John Locke on Why the Executive and Legislative Power Should Be Separated, but the Executive and Foreign Policy Power Should Be Combined 1,953
On John Locke's Labor Theory of Property 1,279
John Locke: The Only Legitimate Power of Governments is to Articulate the Law of Nature 1,096
John Locke: The Purpose of Law Is Freedom 1,089
John Locke's Argument for Majority Rule 1,084
John Locke: Freedom is Life; Slavery Can Be Justified Only as a Reprieve from Deserved Death 1,060
John Stuart Mill’s Vigorous Advocacy of Education Vouchers 1,017
John Locke's Argument for Limited Government 993
William Graham Sumner, Social Darwinist 974
John Locke on Punishment 950
John Locke: Legitimate Taxation and other Appropriation of Property by the Government is Limited as to Quantity, Procedure and Purpose 733
Governments Long Established Should Not—and to a Good Approximation Will Not—Be Changed for Light and Transient Causes 650
John Locke: Government by the Consent of the Governed Often Began Out of Respect for Someone Trusted to Govern 623
John Locke: When the Police and Courts Can't or Won't Take Care of Things, People Have the Right to Take the Law Into Their Own Hands 589
John Stuart Mill on Freedom from Religion 453
John Locke's State of Nature and State of War 449
Freedom Under Law Means All Are Subject to the Same Laws 415
John Stuart Mill on Sins of Omission 411
The Federalist Papers #22 B: Supermajority Rules Aren't an Adequate Fix for Departures from One-Person One-Vote—Alexander Hamilton 404
The Metaphor of a Nation as a Family 392
John Stuart Mill's Brief for Freedom of Speech 391
John Locke: People Must Not Be Judges in Their Own Cases 366
John Locke's Smackdown of Robert Filmer: Being a Father Doesn't Make Any Man a King 339
John Stuart Mill on Other-Regarding Character Flaws (as Distinct from Self-Regarding Character Flaws) 337
Democracy is Not Freedom 330
John Locke: The Public Good 325
John Locke: How to Resist Tyrants without Causing Anarchy 325
John Locke on Legitimate Political Power 321
John Locke: By Natural Law, Husbands Have No Power Over Their Wives 310
Social Liberty 301
John Locke: Defense against the Black Hats is the Origin of the State 301
An Agnostic Prayer for Strength 300
The Federalist Papers #10 A: Conflicts Arising from Differences of Opinion Are an Inevitable Accompaniment of Liberty—James Madison 286
John Stuart Mill: In Praise of Eccentricity 282
Cass Sunstein on the Rule of Law 269
John Locke: Democracy, Oligarchy, Hereditary Monarchy, Elective Monarchy and Mixed Forms of Government 259
John Locke: We Are All Born Free 259
John Locke: The Law Must Apply to Rulers, Too 244
John Stuart Mill’s Roadmap for Freedom 240
On the Achilles Heel of John Locke's Second Treatise: Slavery and Land Ownership 235
John Locke: The Obligation to Obey the Law Does Not Apply to Laws Promulgated by Invaders and Usurpers Who Do Not Have the Consent of the Governed 226
John Stuart Mill on the Protection of "Noble Lies" from Criticism 226
John Locke: No One is Above the Law, which Must Be Established and Promulgated and Designed for the Good of the People; Taxes and Governmental Succession Require Approval of Elected Representatives 224
John Locke Against Natural Hierarchy 220
The Federalist Papers #10 B: The Larger the Republic, the Easier It is to Find Thoughtful Legislators and the Harder It is to Put Together a Majority to do Unjust Things—James Madison 213
John Locke on the Equality of Humans 210
John Locke Treats the Bible as an Authority on Slavery 202
John Stuart Mill: In the Parent-Child Relationship, It is the Children Who Have Rights, Not the Parents 198
John Locke Against Tyranny 191
John Locke Explains 'Lord of the Flies' 171
John Locke: How to Recognize a Tyrant 171
John Locke: If Rebellion is a Sin, It is a Sin Committed Most Often by Those in Power 168
John Stuart Mill on Freedom of Contract 162
John Stuart Mill: Two Maxims for Liberty 161
John Stuart Mill on Balancing Christian Morality with the Wisdom of the Greeks and Romans 160
John Locke: The Right to Enforce the Law of Nature Does Not Depend on Any Social Contract
Getting Away with Doing Good 146
John Stuart Mill on Rising Above Mediocrity 142
John Stuart Mill on Freedom of Thought 136
John Locke Off Base with His Assumption That There Was Plenty of Land at the Time of Acquisition 134
John Locke on the Supremacy of the People, the Supremacy of the Legislature over the Executive, and the Power of the Executive to Deal with Rotten Boroughs 134
John Locke on Monarchs (Or Presidents) Who Destroy a Constitution 134
The Federalist Papers #2 A: John Jay on the Idea of America
John Locke: Theft as the Little Murder 128
John Locke and the Share of Land 126
John Stuart Mill on Humans vs. the Lesser Robots 124
John Stuart Mill on Being Offended at Other People's Opinions or Private Conduct
On Despotism 114
John Stuart Mill’s Defense of Freedom of Religion for Mormons as an Argument for Chartering Libertarian Enclaves 113
John Stuart Mill on Benevolent Dictators 108
The Federalist Papers #1: Alexander Hamilton's Plea for Reasoned Debate 104
Edmund Burke's Wisdom 103
John Stuart Mill’s Defense of Freedom 101
John Stuart Mill on the Historical Origins of Liberty 100
John Locke on the Mandate of Heaven 100
Older Posts with Continuing Popularity on Other Topics
How Perfectionism Has Made the Pandemic Worse 10,226
The 7 Principles of Unitarian Universalism 2,761
Adding a Variable Measured with Error to a Regression Only Partially Controls for that Variable 1,653
William Strauss and Neil Howe's American Prophecy in 'The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny' 1,272
The Medium-Run Natural Interest Rate and the Short-Run Natural Interest Rate 1,175
The Descent—and the Divine Calling—of the Modernists 1,076
Noah Smith: Buddha Was Wrong About Desire 1,026
Indoors is Very Dangerous for COVID-19 Transmission, Especially When Ventilation is Bad 805
The Message of Mormonism for Atheists Who Want to Stay Atheists 766
Five Books That Have Changed My Life 733
How Economists Can Enhance Their Scientific Creativity, Engagement and Impact 703
The Deep Magic of Money and the Deeper Magic of the Supply Side 568
Glennon Doyle on Wild Humanity 526
How Even Liberal Whites Make Themselves Out as Victims in Discussions of Racism 484
Joshua Foer on Deliberate Practice 483
The Mormon View of Jesus 482
Grace Wetzel: Orgasmic Inequality 418
Why I Write 417
Q&A: Is Electronic Money the Mark of the Beast? 382
Why Housing is So Expensive 379
A Liberal Turn in the Mormon Church 377
The Logarithmic Harmony of Percent Changes and Growth Rates 362
It Isn't OK to Be Anti-Immigrant 352
David Byrne: De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum 336
'The Four Agreements' by Don Miguel Ruiz (with Janet Mills) and `The Fifth Agreement' by Don Miguel Ruiz and Don Jose Ruiz (with Janet Mills) 327
David Pagnucco: The Eurozone and the Impossible Trinity 312
Returns to Scale and Imperfect Competition in Market Equilibrium 298
The Complete Guide to Getting into an Economics PhD Program 290
Government Purchases vs. Government Spending
The Most Effective Memory Methods are Difficult—and That's Why They Work 281
Critical Reading: Apprentice Level 279
What is a Supply-Side Liberal? 279
Will Your Uploaded Mind Still Be You? —Michael Graziano 275
Expansionist India 273
There's One Key Difference Between Kids Who Excel at Math and Those Who Don't 268
Noah Smith—Jews: The Parting of the Ways 263
An Optical Illusion: Nativity Scene or Two T-Rex's Fighting over a Table Saw? 260
Capuchin Monkeys Reject Unequal Pay 252
How to Introduce the Next Generation to Literature 249
Supply and Demand for the Monetary Base: How the Fed Currently Determines Interest Rates 243
Noah Smith: You Are Already in the Afterlife 243
Why Taxes are Bad 235
How and Why to Eliminate the Zero Lower Bound: A Reader’s Guide 235
Going Negative: The Virtual Fed Funds Rate Target 230
Cognitive Economics 229
There Is No Such Thing as Decreasing Returns to Scale 228
The Right Amount of Wokeness 228
Clay Christensen, Jerome Grossman and Jason Hwang on the Three Basic Types of Business Models 227
Robert Shiller: Against the Efficient Markets Theory 221
The Shards of My Heart 210
John Stuart Mill on the Role of Custom in Human Life 205
Daniel Coyle on Deliberate Practice 204
An Experiment with Equality of Outcome: The Case of Jamestown 197
James Wells: The Discovery of the Higgs Boson Opens Up Other Puzzles in Particle Physics 190
My Proudest Moment as a Student in Ph.D. Classes 190
Shane Parrish on Deliberate Practice 189
On Human Potential 179
Wrath of Gnon: Bringing Back to Mind How Traditional Technology Kept Buildings Comfortable before Air Conditioning and Central Heating 174
The Mormon Church Decides to Treat Gay Marriage as Rebellion on a Par with Polygamy 171
Franklin Roosevelt on the Second Industrial Revolution 171
On Teaching and Learning Macroeconomics 170
Paul Finkelman: The Monster of Monticello 165
Why GDP Can Grow Forever 163
When the Output Gap is Zero, But Inflation is Below Target 163
John Locke: The People are the Judge of the Rulers 163
The Coming Transformation of Education: Degrees Won’t Matter Anymore, Skills Will 160
Teleotheism and the Purpose of Life 159
The Complete Guide to Getting into an Economics PhD Program 159
100 Economics Blogs and 100 Economists Who Are Influential Online 152
Forgive Yourself 151
The Message of ‘Sal Tlay Ka Siti’ 148
Ezra W. Zuckerman—On Genre: A Few More Tips to Academic Journal Article-Writers (link to pdf) 145
How Does This Pandemic End? 145
Will Women Ever Get the Mormon Priesthood? 142
Michael Coe on Joseph Smith the Shaman 134
Bex's Rules for Life 132
Hannah Katz: The Pros and Cons of Tipping Culture 130
My Life Will Be Good When ... 127
How Even Liberal Whites Make Themselves Out as Victims in Discussions of Racism 127
The Costs of Inflation 126
My Dad 121
18 Misconceptions about Eliminating the Zero Lower Bound 120
How to Reduce Date Rape 116
How to Turn Every Child into a 'Math Person' 113
Modal Papers in Various Fields 111
Peter Conti-Brown's Takedown of Danielle DiMartino Booth's Book ‘Fed Up: An Insider's Take on Why the Federal Reserve is Bad for America’ 109
Peter Conti-Brown's Takedown of Danielle DiMartino Booth's Book ‘Fed Up: An Insider's Take on Why the Federal Reserve is Bad for America’ 109
Eric Schlosser on the Underground Economy 108
How Mormon Scripture Declares the US Constitution to be the Work of God 107
Lumpers vs. Splitters: Economists as Lumpers; Psychologists as Splitters 106
The Racist Origins of the Idea of the ‘Dumb Jock’ 106
On Ex-Muslims 105
Negative Interest Rate Policy as Conventional Monetary Policy: Full Text 104
What to Call the Very Rich: Millionaires, Vranaires, Okuaires, Billionaires and Lakhlakhaires 104
New Evidence on the Genetics of Homosexuality 104
On Master's Programs in Economics 104
Christian Kimball on Middle-Way Mormonism 102
Sticky Prices vs. Sticky Wages: A Debate Between Miles Kimball and Matthew Rognlie 102
Co-Active Coaching as a Tool for Maximizing Utility—Getting Where You Want in Life 101
