Pocket-Worthy Reads

Stories to fuel your mind

Elle

How I Lost My Hair and Found a Community

I was terrified that chemotherapy meant saying goodbye to all my hair. I couldn’t have predicted what I’d discover in its place.

Stylist

The 5 Most Common Regrets of the Dying—and What We Can Learn From Them

Bronnie Ware, a former palliative care nurse and bestselling author, shares the five most common regrets of the dying—and her advice on how to live a life full of happiness and joy.

The Atlantic

12 Books to Help You Love Reading Again

These are the titles that reignited our love for literature.

Knowable Magazine

Is This ‘Age of the Delta’ Coming to an End?

Though inherently impermanent, deltas have been essential to both people and wildlife for thousands of years. But recent shifts have brought on losses that worry scientists.

Quanta Magazine

Meet the New Math, Unlike the Old Math

A recent effort to overhaul math and science education offers a fundamental rethinking of the basic structure of knowledge. But will it be given time to work?

Literary Hub

When Poe Invented the Detective Story, He Changed the Literary World Forever

Poe’s contemporaries and forebears had a lot to say about the new genre, and his detective, the brilliant Dupin.

Mental Floss

Who Was the Original ‘Poster Child‘?

While the exact phrase didn’t enter the language until the 1930s, using children as a means to raise funds for hospitals goes way back.

BBC Future

Garbology: How to Spot Patterns in People’s Waste

Whether it's indulgent food choices or North Korean secrets, the stuff that people throw away can reveal all, says Chris Baraniuk.

Fast Company

Mathematicians Have Solved Traffic Jams, and They’re Begging Cities to Listen

Mathematicians are unimpressed by engineers’ solutions.

Men’s Health

How Many Calories You Can Burn Just By Walking

Walking is an effective, low-impact cardio workout with benefits that go well beyond calorie burn. Still, here’s what to keep in mind if you’re keeping track.

Atlas Obscura

The Illegal Ramen Vendors of Postwar Tokyo

Black markets and American wheat imports popularized ramen.

Slate

“Aw—Mommy Will Make It Better”

Are parents turning their kids into whiny weaklings by overconsoling them?

Popular Collections

Curated guides to the best reads on the web

Pocket Collections

The Art of Navigating Thorny Office Politics

From bad bosses to gossipy colleagues and, of course, office refrigerator drama.

Today’s Pocket Hits

Saturday, July 12

The Guardian

‘It’s the Only Thing Between Me and a Divorce!’ The Remarkable Rise of the Big Family Planner

Many households would descend into chaos without somewhere to jot down work commitments, after-school activities, birthdays, holidays, anniversaries … But do you run the planner, or does the planner run you?

Elle

How a ‘Breakup Moon’ Trip Helped Us Say Goodbye

My boyfriend and I knew our relationship was over. We decided to go to New Zealand anyway.

Texas Monthly

At 40, She Discovered She Was One of America’s Best Free Divers

Sara Burnett went from an introductory course to a world championship in just over a year.

Texas Monthly

The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River.

On July 4, the Guadalupe ripped our home from its pillars, pulling my family into its waters and into the night. Then morning came.

The New York Times

How a Single Overdose Unraveled an Empire of Heroin

A man’s death after using “Flow” in a small Vermont city exposed a drug operation that spanned continents and sent a New York prosecutor on a heartbreaking journey.

The New Yorker

How to Save a Dog

For nearly a year, a motley crew scoured New Orleans for a shaggy white mutt named Scrim.

WIRED

AI Is a Lousy Chef

I asked an AI-powered recipe generator to make some menus. It didn’t tell me to put glue in my guacamole, but the results didn’t come close to besting recipes written by professionals.

Substack

The Death of Partying in the U.S.A.—and Why It Matters

Young Americans today spend 70 percent less time attending or hosting parties than they did at the beginning of the 21st century. Why?

Recommended Reads

Curated by Pocket

Grist

The Oceans May Contain Much, Much More Plastic Than Previously Thought

A new study finds there are 27 million metric tons of invisible plastic particles in the North Atlantic alone.

Fast Company

BYD’s Cars Can Now Fully Park Themselves. Game Over, Tesla

BYD, the Chinese car company, is the first automaker to add full Level 4 autonomous parking to all its cars.

NBC News

Canadian Lovers’ Message in a Bottle Found 13 Years Later and 2,000 Miles Away

The note was “like a little secret,” said one of the people who opened it, “but now it has brought so much joy to so many people.”

Bustle

This Blinking Trick Helps You Fall Asleep in 60 Seconds

A sleep coach explains how to blink your way to better sleep.

Literary Hub

The Church of the Screen: A Daughter’s Reflections on an Early Cinematic Education

My mother was movie obsessed. It was a hold-over from growing up in a tiny town in rural Oklahoma in the ’40s, when many families went nightly to the cinema to get their news and stay for a film. It was cheap, and a place to escape dustbowl poverty into silver screen glamour.

Esquire

The Ridiculously Useful Bag You Didn’t Know You Needed

Bennett Winch’s best-selling Trifold is a study in smart simplicity.

Vox

For Years, Women Complained That This Medical Procedure Was Painful. Doctors Are Finally Listening.

How a common birth control method became the center of a reckoning.

BBC

Russia’s Intensifying Drone War Is Spreading Fear and Eroding Ukrainian Morale

Ukraine is in danger of being overwhelmed by deadly strikes as Russia sends in swarms of drones.

Vogue

Why Is Everybody Standing on Vibration Plates?

Medical experts weigh in on the trend.

NBC News

Blue-State Leaders Weigh New Laws to Deal With Financial Fallout From Trump’s Big Bill

Legislators say they face new state budget burdens because of the law and are clamoring for solutions that might help fill in shortfalls or avoid major deficits.

Popular Science

50 Years of the ‘Jaws Effect’

A new documentary explores the film that preyed on our fears and fasciation with sharks.

The Hollywood Reporter

Stop, Already, With Superhero Movies Ending With Big, Dumb CG Smash Battles

James Gunn’s ‘Superman’ is great until it climaxes with the same numbing effects-overkill as most other Marvel/DC efforts. It’s time to find another way to end these movies.

Life Hacks

Tips for better living

Fast Company

Why Do We Trust Certain People (Even When We Shouldn’t)?

The science of who is (and isn’t) trustworthy. Why are some people perceived as more trustworthy than others?

Harvard Business Review

Leading Is Emotionally Draining. Here’s How to Recover.

Emotional depletion is a real and significant tax of modern leadership. Recovery is no longer a luxury.

Psyche

What to Do When Someone Goes on the Defensive

Our natural impulses often make matters worse. Here’s an approach that works, grounded in conflict resolution and psychology.

USA TODAY

Increase Your Social Security Income in Retirement With Three Powerful Moves

There's a reason people are commonly advised not to retire on Social Security alone. The average monthly benefit won't go very far in helping seniors cover their costs.

NBC News

Job Scams Are on the Rise and More People Are Falling for Them

As job-seekers look for work in a challenging environment, an increasing number are falling victim to job scams that promise good pay for completing easy online tasks, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Harvard Business Review

New Research on Why Teams Overwork—and What Leaders Can Do About It

Why do so many high-performing professionals keep working at a punishing pace, even when it damages their health, relationships, and personal well-being?

Harvard Business Review

How to Identify the Perfect Cofounder

One of the first and most important decisions entrepreneurs make is whether to go it alone or bring on cofounders.

The New York Times

Measles Cases Hit Record High, 25 Years After U.S. Eliminated the Disease

Experts worry that if vaccination rates do not improve, deadly outbreaks will become the new normal.

Gizmodo

This Cough Syrup Ingredient Might Actually Slow Dementia

Several larger trials of ambroxol for Parkinson's are already underway.

CNBC

‘Revenge Savings’ Can Boost Your Bottom Line, Experts Say — Here’s How to Get Started

Saving more money is a perennial resolution, but emotions shouldn't drive that habit, financial experts say. Instead, be intentional. Here's how to get started.

Harvard Business Review

When It’s Time to Leave a Career You’re Passionate About

People worry that others will see them as immoral and incompetent for quitting their passion. These fears are often misplaced.

The Atlantic

I Fought Plastic. Plastic Won

My futile quest to avoid the material that my entire world is made out of.