Merriam-Webster lexicographer Kory Stamper describes how she fell in love with words and offers a peek into the complex process of making dictionaries.
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Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
Becoming One of the World’s 65 Million Refugees
Majid Hussain keeps having to run.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
Liar: A Memoir
“Your memories are already foggy and scrambled at times. And then, they may not even be there anymore.”
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Very First Blood Transfusion
The world’s first experiments with blood transfusion occurred in the mid-1660s in England. The procedure, which was first carried out between dogs, was gruesome: the dogs were tied down, the arteries and veins in their necks opened, and blood transferred from one to another through quills (most likely made from goose feathers) inserted into the […]
Posted inNonfiction
Xenu’s Paradox: The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard and the Making of Scientology
Alec Nevala-Lee, author of Astounding, a forthcoming book on the history of science fiction, digs into the writing career of L. Ron Hubbard, gaining new insights into the life of the controversial founder of dianetics and the origins and nature of Scientology itself.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Doctors Whose Patients Are Already Dead
Rachel Wilkinson goes inside an autopsy lab to understand the process—and the emotional rewards of medicine’s most-maligned specialty.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Unprepared: The Difficulty of Getting a Prescription for a Drug That Effectively Prevents HIV Infection
When Spenser Mestel tries to get a prescription for Truvada in Iowa City, he discovers that medical breakthroughs are only one small part of HIV prevention.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Cyberchondria: D.I.Y. Diagnosis in Overdrive
In researching his chronic headache on the web, veteran journalist Barry Newman takes a terrifying walk down the Via Dolorosa of digital self-diagnosis.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Understanding the ‘Swiss Cheese Model’ of Error
The human lapses that occurred after the computerized ordering system and pill-dispensing robots did their jobs perfectly well is a textbook case of English psychologist James Reason’s “Swiss cheese model” of error. Reason’s model holds that all complex organizations harbor many “latent errors,” unsafe conditions that are, in essence, mistakes waiting to happen. They’re like a forest […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle users, you can also get them as a Readlist. Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox. * * * 1. Manhunting in the Hindu Kush Ryan Devereaux | The Intercept | Oct. 15, 2015 | 20 minutes (5,230 words) The Intercept examines secret […]
