Don't wanna start any argument about this but I don't think I ever wanted to read a single email newsletter, whatever it is I want to read, I read it somewhere else.
That's ok. I subscribed enthusiastically to a bunch of Substack ones last year only to discover that they all were pretty awful save for one. But stuff like The Marginalian and Metafilter and a few others are honestly worthwhile.
That's what I'm finding too, a lot of them give you just a couple paragraphs and then demand a subscription to keep reading. I'm all for supporting creators but a lot of substacks are so aggressive with it.
When ChatGPT and LLMs started to become mainstream, many poor-quality newsletters about AI appeared and/or with the sole purpose of embedding advertisements in emails.
I found a quality newsletter, genuinely made by those interested in the subject, with updated news, containing reference links, and without ads.
I get email updates from brr.fyi, which is a fascinating website about a person’s experiences and observations living in Antarctica. Every time I get an email I pretty much immediately go read the new post. They are always super interesting.
Matt Levine’s Money Stuff is awesome if you’re at all interested in finance. It’s kind off a offbeat take on things and really delves into the weirdness of financial fraud, crypto and Elon Musk, among other things.
Of those I subscribe to, a few I don't miss reading:
https://www.the-syllabus.com/ - A curated selection of articles and videos. Broad, it covers politics, tech, etc through careful journalism, papers and talks.
https://www.aisnakeoil.com/ - Commentary and chapters from a forthcoming textbook. Tired of all the lazy hype so this is nice to read. By Arvind Narayanan (the PL researcher) and an AI PhD student.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/ - Weekly summary of climate stuff, something important but Im too lazy to properly follow news.