What I’ve come to count on is the white-coated attendant of memory, silently here again to deliver dabs from the laboratory dish of me. In the days before Carol died, twenty months ago, she lay semiconscious in bed at home, alternating periods of faint or imperceptible breathing with deep, shuddering catch-up breaths. Then, in a […]
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Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How the Creators of ‘Street Fighter II’ Figured Out How to Make the Best Game for an Arcade
Looking back on the creation of ‘Street Fighter II.’
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
What It’s Like to Have Hypochondria
In a piece for Psychology Today, a man with hypochondria attempts to understand his disorder.
Posted inNonfiction
The Dolphin Trainer Who Loved Dolphins Too Much
Dolphin trainer Ashley Guidry loved her job and the animals she worked with—in particular, a dolphin calf named Chopper. But years of seeing how business was done behind the scenes at a small marine park made her come to the painful conclusion that she had to walk away from it all.
Posted inNonfiction, Story
The Cold Rim of the World
The rise and fall of Pyramiden, a Russian mining town located in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
A Brief History of PR Disasters By Abercrombie & Fitch
In many ways, Jeffries’s most impressive accomplishment was not the signature Abercrombie style but the signature Abercrombie attitude, with its bluntly brash appeal. As one former employee put it, “The only bad news was no news. Controversy was what you wanted.” Consequently, the list of PR disasters past and present is too lengthy to fully […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How In-N-Out Withstood Competition By Not Changing Anything and Taking Care of Employees
Under her three-year tenure, In‑N‑Out has expanded—cautiously—into Texas, a move she says has been in the works for a decade. That foray brought one rare, considerably less-than-daring change to the company’s formula: It added iced sweet tea to the menu. “We knew that everybody loves sweet tea there,” Snyder explains. “It’s not that hard. We […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
College Football Star Michael Sam on How He Was Treated After Coming Out to His Teammates
Mr. Sam played down any repercussions, saying he had the full support of teammates, coaches and administrators. One teammate, he said, accompanied him to a gay pride event in St. Louis last summer, and others went with him to gay bars. “Some people actually just couldn’t believe I was actually gay,” Mr. Sam said. “But […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
What It's Like to Ghostwrite Love Letters
I tried to coax imagery from my clients. When someone described a girlfriend as beautiful, I asked him to describe her in a certain moment. He said she looked so lovely when she held a baby. That was better. Some people really delivered. “I told you about my dream of you at the opera, wearing […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Why Good Health Care Depends on Nurses
Arnold Relman, a physician with more than six decades of experience, broke his neck and discovered what it’s like to be critically ill and cared for under today’s health care system.
