For many of us, the weeks ahead offer a little more time and space for reading. Our year-end lists are filled with stories that will meet you wherever you are.
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A “Super” Walk of Contradictions (and Our Top 5)
“To my right is one of the largest manmade toxic holes on Earth. To my left, shelves of coal-colored slag piled twenty feet high. And underfoot, ten thousand miles of poisoned shafts swimming with ghosts.” Hello from Berkeley, California. Our family loves to explore the city’s parks, where we can hike through redwood forests in […]
A near-death experience and our Top 5 stories of the week
“My boating experience was minimal and that section of river was not for beginners, but I had scraped by enough times that my risk assessment was dangerously off-kilter. It was a really, really bad combination.” Congratulations—we made it to the weekend! We’ve got some unforgettable stories for you this week. First, Maggie Slepian recounts her […]
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.
A Vaccine Dispute Turns Deadly
Misinformation’s tragic toll on one California family.
Detectives at Work and the Week’s Top 5
“Ronald was my mother’s uncle, a fashion designer who fled Texas for New York at 19. I met him only once. In my memory, we are sitting on the front porch, the hairs standing up on my arms as the sun wanes. His head is bent over a piece of paper, sketching my 7-year-old face. […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: subsea storytelling, a preservation paradox, achieving serpentine symbiosis, an investigation into infinity, and a marijuana mystery.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories about celebrity look-alikes, siblings, desert living, philanthrocapitalism, and life inside a legal brothel.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Notable stories on chasing manhood, naming Gaza’s dead, searching the stacks for a rare book, leaving music behind, and opting out.
Poets in the Machine
Why does the literary world still hold online writing at arm’s length?


