Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle users, you can also get them as a Readlist. Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox. * * *
The Atlantic
Posted inReading List
Oh, the Humanities! A Reading List Pertaining to the English Major
In college, I rearranged my majors and minors, all in the humanities, for years. I loved everything. Finally, I majored in English. It was fate—second-grade me was constantly in trouble for sneaking books under her desk. Majoring in English was both the joy and bane of my life. I struggled with a Faulkner-heavy Southern Lit course, […]
Posted inReading List
Oh, the Humanities! A Reading List Pertaining to the English Major
In college, I rearranged my majors and minors, all in the humanities, for years. I loved everything. Finally, I majored in English. It was fate—second-grade me was constantly in trouble for sneaking books under her desk. Majoring in English was both the joy and bane of my life. I struggled with a Faulkner-heavy Southern Lit course, […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
When Creativity Comes in Pairs—Then Comes Apart
What ultimately brought their work together to a halt was not creative disagreements but business ones. During his power grab, John was sweet-talked by a canny, dubious manager named Allen Klein, with whom he promptly signed. George and Ringo followed—pure primate politics there. But Paul would not. And so legend has it that the Beatles […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Vera Nabokov, Eugen Boissevain, Leonard Woolf: On Spouses Who Supported Their Famous Partner's Writing Careers
At the Atlantic, Koa Beck writes about the spouses of famous writers who supported their partner’s writing careers, often devoting their lives to it. Vera Nabokov epitomized this: She not only performed the duties of cleaning and cooking expected of her as a wife in her era, but also worked as her husband’s “round-the-clock editor, […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Subconscious Cues That Guide Visitors Through The World’s Busiest Airport
In a recent blog post for The Atlantic, David Zweig spoke with wayfinding expert and airport-sign designer Jim Harding about his work on the world’s busiest airport, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson. According to Hartfield, the highest mark of success in Harding’s work is invisibility: if his job is perfectly executed, “you will never think of him or his work.” In Harding’s work, no […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
What Lawyers Have In Common With Auto Mechanics and Dentists
Because of its complexity, Hadfield points out, legal help is what economists call a “credence good”—a good “provided by an expert who also determines a buyer’s needs” because the buyer is “unable to assess how much of the good or service they need; nor can they assess whether or not the service was performed or […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Ta-Nehisi Coates Calls for Reparations, and a 'Spiritual Renewal' for America
We must imagine a new country. Reparations—by which I mean the full acceptance of our collective biography and its consequences—is the price we must pay to see ourselves squarely. The recovering alcoholic may well have to live with his illness for the rest of his life. But at least he is not living a drunken […]
Posted inReading List
Dating in the 21st Century: A Reading List
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 1. “Love Me Tinder.” (Emily Witt, GQ, January 2014) The denizens of Tinder in all their weird, wild, witty glory. 2. “Dating While Trans: The Doldrums.” (Audrey Arndt, The Toast, May 2014) For a long time, Audrey openly described herself as transgender in her OKCupid profile. 3. “Forever Single: DATING […]
Posted inNonfiction, Top 5
Top 5 Longreads of the Week: Jan. 3, 2014
Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle and Readmill users, you can also save them as a Readlist. Sign up to receive the Top 5 Longreads email every Friday.