Our 10 most-read Longreads essays of 2025.
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Posted inEditor's Pick
My Road Trip With the Do-Gooding Cactus Smugglers
“Can poaching ever be ethical?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
George Saunders Says Ditching These Three Delusions Can Save You
“He’s as flawed a human being as anyone else, one who’s still wrestling with questions about how best to move through life with a modicum of grace and compassion.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Portrait of the Artist as an Amazon Reviewer
“Between 2003 and 2019, Kevin Killian published almost twenty-four hundred reviews on the site. Can they be considered literature?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Tom Colicchio’s Final Service
“Through hosting two decades of Top Chef, writing four books, and opening restaurants across the country, the celebrity chef never stopped showing up to cook in the kitchen of Craft, his pioneering New York restaurant. Until he decided to close it.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Desert Safety Net
“Every winter, tens of thousands of Americans migrate to public lands in the Arizona desert. For a growing number, it’s not a vacation—it’s the only housing they can afford.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Is There Life After Smartphones?
“This year, I set out to better understand what was driving this shift — what was causing so many young people to feel fed up with their phones.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
You Could Be Next
“Laid-off lawyers, history PhDs, and scientists are now part of a miserable gig economy in which they’re teaching AI how to do their old jobs.”
