“After an emotionally tumultuous year, and in search of a way to return to his old self, a writer unexpectedly finds himself devoted to chess.”
the believer
Posted inEditor's Pick
Fear as a Game
“What can the philosophy of games tell us about our odd impulse to scare ourselves?”
Posted inReading List
Bad Blood (Longreads’ Version): A Musical Feuds Reading List
Whether competition between artists or strife within a band, popular music features some of pop culture’s messiest rivalries.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Love and Murder in South Africa
“Those tears were the product of the education I’d come for.”
Posted inTop 5
Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we’re sharing stories from Kamran Javadizadeh, Joshua Hunt, Amy McCarthy, Jaron Lanier, and Andy Greene.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Mount Fear Diary
“Speaking to the dead can, for a short while, seem to place us outside the laws of nature—outside the rules governing time and space.”
Posted inReading List
Return to the Saddle Club: A Reading List on Horse Girls
Celebrating the girls with an equine obsession.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Violent Delights
“The serial killer media industrial complex rages on, but what has it taught us? Very little about the crimes in question, and much more about ourselves.”
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we are sharing stories on gun violence, Silicon Valley in the ’90s, the ability of artificial intelligence, and the community of audiophiles.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Aristocrat Inc.
“How a small computer chip company, owned by the author’s mother, became the target of a sprawling pan-Asian crime ring that operated throughout Silicon Valley.”