“It is hard, I think, to learn as an adult. This is not some profound statement. It just is. But it is not hard because of the fact of it; it is hard because learning anything means learning again how to learn. It’s not that riding a bike is hard; it’s that learning is hard. […]
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Harrowing Outdoor Adventure and the Week’s Top 5
“Traveling the entire length was the equivalent of climbing and descending more than eighteen Mount Everests over a distance equivalent to nearly fifty marathons.” I’m powerless against outdoor adventure stories. I love tales of arduous trips through harsh landscapes, ones where Mother Nature can be fickle, casting weather spells that bring surprise, danger, and a […]
Best of 2025: All Our Number One Story Picks
Every story we selected for the number one slot in our weekly newsletter, all in one place.
The Wonder of Walking and the Week’s Top 5
“I’ve always been intrigued by how environments influence the way we move, feel, and experience—and how our movements, in turn, change those environments.” Once a day, we suit up the dog and take a family walk to a park overlooking the Salish Sea. There’s something about watching dogs at play that fills us up. The […]
No Escape from Online Memories
The algorithms that drive Facebook, Pinterest, and a million other apps don’t know when your life changes course — and can keep up a stream of painful memories.
The Household Covid Budget
“She and her five housemates needed to find a way to live safely together. So they decided to adhere to a collective risk model of their own design.”
Lost and Found: A Reading List on Labyrinths, Mazes, and Wayfinding
Lost in a maze or found in a labyrinth? Come, let’s keep walking.
Award Wins, Note-Taking Advice, and Our Top 5
“So as soon as my reporting was done, I would go home. I would never permit myself to do anything, make dinner, nothing, until I’d sat down with the notebooks.” Happy Friday! We have several updates to share this week. We’re working to improve your overall Longreads experience, and you may notice some small changes while browsing […]
Abandoned Music Dreams and The Week’s Top 5
“It felt like a homecoming but in retrospect seems more like a goodbye: a last great musical act before leaving that period of my life. It felt romantic, anyway, to record in a barn. We set the drums next to the tractor, tried to coax the chickens into cooing for the microphone, and had a […]
Best of 2023: All of Our Number Five Story Picks
Each story we chose as our number five piece of the week in 2023, all in one place.

