Science fiction writer Eileen Gunn recently wrote in Smithsonian magazine about how the science fiction genre informs the way we think about the real world. Here, Gunn writes that big tech companies like Microsoft have hired science fiction writers to do “design fiction”—coming up with new technology ideas through imaginative works: Microsoft, Google, Apple and […]
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Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Meals Behind Bars: A Reading List
Three of these pieces look at what mealtime is like on the inside, from an examination of chow hall food to stories of inmates’ ad-hoc cell-made meals to an in-depth look at a commissary food that’s both dietary supplement and currency for thousands of inmates. A fourth adds a different dimension, revealing how some of the foods on our own tables are the product of prison labor.
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2015: Under-Recognized Stories
Stories that deserved more attention in 2015.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Bad News: Censorship, Fear & Genocide Memorials
“They are manufacturing fear,” Moses said, gasping. “We survivors have asked them to stop this violence. What do they want from us?”
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
The King’s Last Game
Elvis Presley and I had at least one thing in common: A love of racquetball.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
The Art of Humorous Nonfiction: A Beer in Brooklyn with the King of the A-Heds
Former Wall Street Journal reporter Barry Newman reflects on 43 years of feature stories that explore the eccentric humanity of our world.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How Joe Cocker’s Version of ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ Ended Up as the Theme Song for ‘The Wonder Years’
Cocker originally performed “With a Little Help From My Friends” at Woodstock in 1969, and that version ended up being used for the show.
Posted inNonfiction
‘We Value Experience’: Can a Secret Society Become a Business?
Jeff Hull’s Latitude Society explores the possibilities of art, intimacy, experience, and membership.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Our Problem Might Not Be Gluten, After All
There is more to wheat than gluten. Wheat also contains a combination of complex carbohydrates, and the Australian team wondered if these could be responsible for the problems. Gibson and his colleagues devised a different study: they recruited a group of thirty-seven volunteers who seemed unable to digest gluten properly. This time, the researchers attempted […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Evolution of Our Diet and What Modern Menus are Doing to Us
Ann Gibbons in National Geographic on how our diets have evolved and whether returning to a “Stone Age diet” would help prevent high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
