I picked them up on clearance because the pattern was being discontinued. Even at a discount it still felt crazy to be spending that much on socks.

It feels a lot less crazy now.

I have 8 pairs of Farm to Feet socks. I bought them five years ago. I wear them all winter, pretty much exclusively.

Not a single sock has worn out yet. There aren’t even any thin areas. They go through the wash and dryer like the rest of my laundry, I don’t baby them.

The math is roughly 1 wear per pair per week before washing, x 26 weeks (my feet get cold easily, so I probably wear them more like 3/4 of the year, but there are also 8 pairs so we’re rounding), x 5 years = ~ 130 wears each so far, and still going strong.

If Darn Tough is as good or better than that, then he’s gold.

Or Glow! They canceled that one partway through filming the final season. Such a crock.

You’re still exposed to new ideas. A lot of fantasy and sci fi authors explore concepts such as bigotry or inequality, and having the separation of looking at these ideas through an alien or fantasy race gives people a new lens to examine their own beliefs.

Authors also examine things like: what would an ‘ideal’ society look like and what would the trade offs be? What happens in a post-scarcity world? How would society grapple with over or under population?

Almost every book has something to teach you, even if it’s just how other people think.