“The flames flap with a noise like laundry on a line. The fire is an orange column. A plastic bag pirouettes in mid-air. The camera, unsteady, lingers and lingers. And in the middle, the figure stands upright, stoic or suicidal. Pema thinks: she’s already dead.”
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Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending memorable pieces by Seth Freed Wessler, Stuart McGurk, Jon Mooallem, Ben Lerner, Kiese Laymon, and Amelia Tait.
Posted inReading List
Brave New World: A Reading List About the Dark Future
Five stories that make Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel feel like nonfiction.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Growing Old Online
“Millennials, the first generation to be online as kids, are starting to feel like we’ve aged out. Is there a way to age gracefully on the internet?”
Posted inNewsletter
The Curious Path to Psychedelic Toads
Introducing an excerpt from “The Ego Trip.”
Posted inNewsletter
Who am I to Diss a Brie?
“Plenty of people are looking for stilton, and some have more than a snack on their mind.”
Posted inUncategorized
On the Hollow Highs of Hallmark Holiday Films (and More)
“Filmmakers use a character’s grief to evoke viewers’ sympathy and cravings for a quick fix. The Christmas widower trope exploits these very human tendencies, triggering sadness for the sake of sadness and making the cheap promise of a neat resolution tied up in a pretty bow.” We hope you enjoyed last week’s story, “Christmas on […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Neal Stephenson Finally Takes on Global Warming
“His superscience this time isn’t a metaverse or a space colony. It’s engineering to address an imminent threat.”
Posted inReading List
Daylight Savings Time: A (Beach) Reading List for the Lighthearted
I hear that there are people in the world who prefer lighthearted stories. Lovely meet-cutes where no one gets hurt and people even fall in love, where there is serendipity like there used to be before the internet, where good things happen to good people. Cozy mysteries that involve a cat—or possibly, as in one […]
