Summer’s almost over. Alison Fields curated a list of beach-based books to make you feel like you’re still breathing in that sweet sea air.
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Hating Big Pharma Is Good, But Supply-Side Epidemic Theory Is Killing People
New books about the opioid crisis — “Dopesick,” “Fight for Space” and “American Fix” — have different ideas about who’s to blame and what to do next. Our critic says regulating supply can have deadly consequences, and we need to address users’ pain.
Shared Breath
How does receiving a donated organ affect a person’s sense of self? Caitlin Dwyer explores the lives of organ donor recipients and their intimate relationships with donor families.
Why Revolutionaries Love Spicy Food
To early Chinese Communists, if you couldn’t stand spicy food, you weren’t equipped to fight for the revolution. Science suggests this association between strength, risk and Maoists might have to do with the chemical interactions between the chili pepper, culture and certain personality types.
Earning Our Place on the Planet: An Interview with adrienne maree brown
Her planet/self-help guide for activists, “Emergent Strategy,” is going mainstream — maybe even in time to save the world.
We Are Scientists
A scientist examines the connections between his Indian immigrant father and the brilliant but overlooked Indian scientist Yellapragada Subbarow.
Dog Cloning: Controversial and Downright Creepy
A clone is not a clone, it’s a twin born at a different time — one that is only ever about 85 percent the same as the original.
A British Seaweed Scientist Is Revered in Japan as ‘The Mother of the Sea’
Kathleen Drew-Baker died never having set foot in Japan, and never knowing what an impact her research would make. Plus, how to build a lazy bed, how to cook Irish blancmange, and other surprising seaweed stories.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Ben Blum, Reeves Wiedeman, Mizuho Aoki, Amy Wright, and Sarah Scoles.
It’s Getting Hot in Here, So Take Off All Your Constructs
Hot Girl Summer has women subverting a feminine archetype, but only if they can embody it first.

