In this edition: the appeal of the surreal, decoding AI dreck, goop relations, learning to think, and pigeon racing pitfalls
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we’re highlighting stories from Bryan Burrough, Josh Dzieza, Gabriella Paiella, Martha Lundin, and Patricia Marx.
Into the Abyss: An Extreme Sports Reading List
Why some athletes seek the very limits of human capacity — even in the face of unimaginable risk.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we have stories from David Roth, Dhruv Mehrotra and Andy Greenberg, Thomas Dai, Cameron Maynard, and Katherine Rundell.
Digital Havoc: A Reading List About Hacking
Behind the 1s and 0s, hackers are still people—and their motivations are more nuanced than you might think.
Cooking for One, Dangerous Jobs, and our Weekly Top 5
“When I cooked Indian food, the smallest number I cooked for was four. But the book suggested that I could cook for myself. Meals for one. It advocated gentle ease as a way of making myself a meal.” Is that the weekend knocking at the door? C’mon in! This week we’ve got a thoughtful new […]
Fabulous Fungi and Our Top 5 of the Week
“To a reading list on these mind-bending entities at a planetary tipping point, welcome. What you see here are only some fruiting bodies, the rest lies underneath.” I first learned about the parasitic fungus that takes over a bug’s body and commandeers its brain back in 2023, when I picked Zhengyang Wang’s “The Last of […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
An investigation into a heinous (and lurid) crime. A look at the spirited world of competitive cheer. A visit to the world’s creepiest motel. An empathic eye on assisted dying. And the true planetary cost of your beloved cat. Our favorites of the week, pulled from all of our editors’ picks. 1. What Happened to Heather […]
Hope in the Desert and the Week’s Top 5
“Talking with them I realized how many people, like me, had run away from hard conversations. How we did it on purpose, and sometimes without realizing. How people who needed to talk waited for invitations to spit out the hard stuff, and how good it felt when they did.” Happy Friday, y’all. Summer is drawing […]


