On volcanoes, earthquakes, and our attraction to disaster.
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What the Journey Brings, and Our Weekly Top 5
“I-95 is an artery of ambition, movement, and flight. A place where millions of people hurry toward love and loss, carrying their hope, their grief, their ordinary Tuesdays, all at 70 miles per hour.” A favorite program of mine is Race Across the World. The concept is simple: Teams must cross entire countries without flying, armed only […]
Paging Dr. House: A Medical Mysteries Reading List
Once upon a time, I wanted to be a doctor. Never mind my terrible grades in all things science. Never mind that I decided this in my second year of college, after deciding that the music school that I’d wanted for years wasn’t for me. It was 2006. It was the age of Dr. Gregory […]
‘Actually Really Sacred’: A George Saunders Reading List
Nine essays and interviews from literature’s favorite laureate of compassion.
Interspecies Communication, An Ultra-Incredible Recovery, and Our Top 5
“From the mycelial ‘wood wide web’ to smart slime molds and political honeybees, science is demonstrating that humans don’t monopolize language or intelligence.” With advancements in artificial intelligence, scientists are learning more about the ways non-human species communicate with each other—and how they might communicate with us. In this week’s new reading list, “Wild Talk,” Sam […]
Librarians on the Front Lines: A Reading List for Library Lovers and Realists
Increasingly, being a librarian is less and less about books and more and more about community survival.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Our Top 5 stories of the week from Maurice Chammah, Benoît Morenne, Amanda Gefter, Jane Miller, and Cheryl Katz and our first-ever audience award.
An Age of Wonder (and Our Top 5)
Parenting lessons at a science museum, Catholic anti-war raiders, R. O. Kwon, and our top 5 reads of the week.
Odd, Genius, or Something In Between: A Reading List on Writers
“Give me the weird tics, the turns of phrase, the strange beginnings. Give me the writer in their natural habitat.”
Danger on the Divide
“If I’d felt more confident on the route, if he hadn’t made that comment, if we’d been communicating more, would I have pushed for another day off? If, if, if.”


