Pocket Future

Pocket-Worthy Reads

Stories to fuel your mind

Inc.

6 Counterintuitive Things Successful and Productive People Do on Sunday

Sunday holds untapped potential if you’re willing to think differently.

Inverse

Taking a Vacation Is Seriously Good For Your Brain — But Only If You Do It Right

Say it with us: Vacation is good for you.

Outside

6 Ways to Be a Better Photographer, According to Pros

Best practices gleaned from decades of shooting.

BBC Travel

The US’ 2,000-Year-Old Mystery Mounds

Constructed by a mysterious civilization that left no written records, the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks are a testament to indigenous sophistication.

The Drive

Here’s How To Remove Rust From Your Car

Blast ugly and invasive surface corrosion before it eats your car alive.

The Kitchn

How To Make DIY Instant Noodle Cups

When you’re ready to eat, pour hot water over the top and in a few minutes, lunch is served.

Popular Science

How to Actually Remove Pesticides From Your Fruit

Assuming that you should be worried about them in the first place.

Nautilus

Once Upon a Gemstone

Precious stones hold the stories of continents, oceans, and cultures.

Narratively

I Spent My Childhood Helping My Mom Sell Dead People’s Junk

I was only 8 when I began working as an undercover security guard at estate sales. Among the dusty trinkets and used shampoo bottles, I learned a lot about human nature.

Smithsonian Magazine

Why Ecologists Are Haunted by the Rapid Growth of Ghost Forests

A study in North Carolina of dying trees may represent a foreboding preview of what may come to coastal ecosystems worldwide.

The Atlantic

Cool People Accidentally Saved America’s Feet

Millennials popularized bulky, super-cushioned shoes. Then Millennials got old.

Literary Hub

On the Endless Symbolism of ‘Jaws’, Which Owes Its Dark Soul to ‘Moby Dick’

Olivia Rutigliano discusses punishment, redemption, and fate in her favorite movie of all time.

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

Thursday, August 7

Sapiens

What’s Behind a Michelin Star?

As judges scout new restaurants in the U.S., an anthropologist investigates the elite, Eurocentric history of the Michelin Red Guide.

SELF

5 Injuries ER Doctors See All the Time—and How to Avoid Them

You might be surprised by the seemingly innocuous behaviors that cause them.

SELF

The ‘Contrarian Friend’ Is Real—and They’re Driving Everyone Crazy

When disagreeing with you becomes someone’s entire personality.

Atavist

The Talented Mr. Bruseaux

He made his name in Chicago investigating race riots, solving crimes, and exposing corruption. But America’s first Black private detective was hiding secrets of his own.

Slate

I Quit Drinking. It’s Great. There’s Just One Small Problem.

How do I deal with my emotions without whiskey?

The Atlantic

What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones

Children who were raised on screens need more freedom out in the real world.

The Guardian

The 12-Year-Old Girl Staring Down Monster Waves at Teahupo’o

The young Tahiti surfer will become the WSL’s youngest competitor when she takes on the fearsome break she can see from her family home.

Noema Magazine

The Gulf World That Air Conditioning Wrought

From Saudi Arabia to Qatar, rulers have used modern air conditioning to control landscapes and lives, forgoing traditional methods of keeping cool.

Gigantic ‘Walking Stick’ Discovered in Australia Might Be the Continent’s Heaviest Insect

Scientists identified the elusive new species from a female found in a high-altitude rainforest’s canopy

The Atlantic

Mrs. Dalloway’s Midlife Crisis

Virginia Woolf’s wild run of creativity in her 40s included writing her masterpiece on the terrors and triumphs of middle age.

The Guardian

The Trolley Solution: The Internet’s Most Memed Moral Dilemma Becomes a Video Game

Indie developer’s take on the ethical conundrum about choosing who to save from an oncoming train may be gimmicky, but with its charm and bite-size levels, it’s ideal for the social media era.

ESPN

2026 NFL Draft Prospects Under Pressure This CFB Season

Which players’ draft stocks have the most riding on the 2025 college football season? We picked out 10, including three quarterbacks.

The Conversation

Nature’s Underground Engineers: How Plant Roots Could Save Harvests From Drought

Plant roots don’t just take from soil; they shape it.

The Sydney Sweeney Denim Ad Takeaway Nobody Is Talking About

Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad has a takeaway about body inclusivity that no one’s discussing, writes senior style director Jessica Andrews.

Time

Why So Many Women Are Quitting the Workforce

Labor force participation among women has started falling again in 2025.

The Marginalian

Blink Twice to Quell a Quasar: Carl Sagan on Superstition

“The future belongs to those able to learn, to change, to accommodate to this exquisite Cosmos that we have been privileged to inhabit for a brief moment.”

BBC

How Trump’s Secondary Tariffs on Russia Could Hit the Global Economy

The sweeping secondary tariffs could cut the flow of Russian oil and gas to global markets.

POLITICO

‘If This Fails, He’ll Have Egg on His Face’: Gavin Newsom Bets Political Future on Redistricting Power Play

California’s governor is tapping into Democrats’ longing for a fight.

Smithsonian Magazine

Researchers Discover the Culprit Behind a Gruesome Disease That Makes Sea Stars Lose Their Limbs and Melt

A new study points a finger at a strain of the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida, which belongs to the same genus as Vibrio cholerae, known for causing cholera in humans