Pocket-Worthy Reads

Stories to fuel your mind

The Hustle

The Worst Sales Promotion in History

In 1992, an electronics company offered free international flights with a £100 purchase. Today, it’s cited as the worst promotion in history.

WIRED

How to Actually Find Good Recipes Online

So many food blogs and recipe sites are full of pretty pictures but untested recipes. Don’t worry, it’s possible to find something you’ll love to cook and eat.

Atlas Obscura

The Wartime Spies Who Used Knitting as an Espionage Tool

Grandma was just making a sweater. Or was she?

The Kitchn

Five 3-Ingredient Sheet Pan Gnocchi Dinners

Crispy, no-mess perfection.

The Guardian

The Heart Rate Secret: What It Reveals About Our Health—From Sleep and Alcohol to Fight or Flight

There are more and more ways to monitor our heart rates, but what do the numbers really mean? Here is everything you need to know.

Popular Science

To Set the Record Straight: Nothing Can Break the Speed of Light

Objects may not be as fast as they appear with this universal illusion.

BBC Culture

Why Being Creative Is Good for You

What is the key to creativity, and how does it help our mental health? Beverley D’Silva speaks to author Julia Cameron and others about ’flow’, fear and curiosity.

BBC Future

Why Our Pursuit of Happiness May Be Flawed

It is an emotion linked to improved health and well-being, but is our obsession with being happy a recipe for disappointment, asks Nat Rutherford.

BBC Worklife

The ‘Hidden Talent’ That Determines Success

In our era of globalization, your job performance may depend on your “CQ”. So what is it?

Bon Appétit

Everything You Need to Know About Nutritional Yeast, Nature’s Cheeto Dust

Here’s why this cheesy, savory seasoning deserves a spot in your pantry.

Knowable Magazine

Nature, Nurture and Randomness

More than genes and upbringing determine animal personalities: There’s a good dose of chance in the mix, too.

Glamour

15 Genius Tips That’ll Give You Clearer Skin for Free

Get glowing skin without spending a single cent.

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, July 31

Vulture

Let Your Kids Watch TV. It’s Fine.

A no-guilt screen-time guide.

Huck Magazine

The Tossers: Inside the World of Competitive Egg Throwing

From Russian Egg Roulette to the showpiece Throw and Catch, the World Egg Throwing Championships is a cracking tournament.

The American Scholar

Hundreds and Thousands

I didn’t know how you could inventory memories. I might search for a particular one, bring it up, dust it off. But how to count five days’ worth?

Punch

Are Kava and Kratom Drinks Addictive?

In detox centers and online support communities, it’s called “the little blue devil.” But its real name is less insidious: “Feel Free” is a drink sold in tiny blue bottles in gas stations, liquor stores and smoke shops to people 21 years or older.

The New Yorker

Notes on Bed Rest

I spent months limiting my movement, to protect a high-risk pregnancy. How did it change me?

The Independent

Meet the Childfree Communities Planning for a Future Without Kids

As increasing numbers of us can’t or won’t have children, Helen Coffey talks to those who are planning their lives without a nuclear family, and investigates why government policy has yet to catch up with this rapidly growing demographic.

PBS

In the Gray World of GLP-1 Supplements Online, Health Experts Urge Caution

TikTok beauty influencer Kaycee Ogle is regularly contacted by brands who want her to promote their products. But one email she received in June was different, and made her curious.

Mother Jones

The Surgery That Reveals Everything That’s Wrong With Women’s Health Care

From "wandering wombs" to modern biases, the troubling politics of hysterectomies

Recommended Reads

Curated by Pocket

Axios

Trump’s “Devil in the Details” Trade Deals Sow Confusion

These are not traditional, word-heavy trade deals with text agreed to by all negotiators.

Parents

5 Expert Tips for Making Reading Time the Best Part of Your Child’s Day

After a summer filled with outdoor play, screen time, and relaxed routines, getting kids back into the habit of reading can be a challenge.

Outside

Bear Grylls’ Company Will Host the World’s Deepest Marathon

On October 26, 60 participants will run laps in a Swedish zinc mine in complete silence, 4,300 feet below Earth’s surface

Reuters

Medicaid Access and Trump Tax Cuts Dominate Early 2026 US Midterm Ads

Democrats are focusing their message around access to healthcare. Republicans are countering that the tax provisions will put more money in voters’ pockets.

Vanity Fair

Remembering Wallis Annenberg, “The Brooke Astor of Los Angeles”

She disliked the term “giving money away.” Philanthropist Wallis Annenberg, who died at 86 at her home in Los Angeles on Monday, much preferred “using it wisely,” which she did—and often.

Reuters

What Is CTE and Its Connection to the NFL and Other Contact Sports?

A gunman who opened fire in a Midtown Manhattan office building on Monday believed he suffered a brain injury that he blamed on the National Football League, New York’s mayor said, thrusting the issue of chronic traumatic encephalopathy back into headline

Time

How to Excel at Small Talk When You Have Social Anxiety

Script yourself some go-to phrases ahead of time.

Discover

Fossilized Teeth Offer Clues to Dinosaurs’ Favorite Foods About 150 Million Years Ago

Discover how researcher tell which foods dinosaurs preferred just by analyzing their fossilized tooth enamel.

The Hollywood Reporter

Knives Out: Celebrities Reveal Plastic Surgery Secrets—but One Procedure Still Taboo

Knives out: Cosmetic surgery is finally out of the closet, turning actors into evangelists and top doctors into superstars, yet there’s still a very common procedure that nobody wants to talk about.

Condé Nast Traveler

To Eat Like a Local in Tokyo, Look for B-Kyū Gurume Restaurants

Tokyo’s Michelin-starred restaurants may dominate the conversation, but the city’s quickfire comfort food is tasty and affordable.

Nautilus

These “Junk” Proteins May Fuel Adaptation

And they could help some creatures adjust to changing climates

The Atlantic

The WNBA Has a Good Problem on Its Hands

Women’s basketball players are demanding higher pay. That’s what happens when business is booming.

Life Hacks

Tips for better living

CNBC

While the Fed Kept Its Benchmark Unchanged, Here’s What Happened to Consumer Borrowing Rates

When it meets this week, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep its key short-term interest rate at its current target range — where it has stayed for all of 2025.

Maclean’s

Confessions of the Working Poor

I work hard, buy quality clothes and know how to fake my way through dinner-party conversations. But behind the scenes, I’m part of a fast-growing Canadian underclass.

CNBC

Back-to-School Shopping Is More Expensive This Year — Here’s the Breakdown

This year, parents will pay more for back-to-school essentials such as pens, pencils and backpacks.

CNN

‘Ozempic Face’ May Be Driving a Cosmetic Surgery Boom

“You can only refill a deflated balloon so much, and often surgical intervention is necessary.”

The New York Times

Study May Undercut Idea That Cash Payments to Poor Families Help Child Development

Rigorous new research appears to show that monthly checks intended to help disadvantaged children did little for their well-being, adding a new element to a dispute over expanded government aid.

CNBC

Even Many High-Earning Americans Don’t Feel Wealthy. Here’s Why

Many high earners in the U.S. still feel broke. Between lifestyle creep, debt and social pressure, even $200,000 per year doesn’t always buy peace of mind.

The Cut

What If a Child Was Terrified of Food?

The rise of ARFID, a new eating disorder driven not by body image but by fear.

Vox

How to Make the Hardest Choices of Your Life

From picking a career to picking a spouse, one radical philosophical idea will guide you.

NPR

The Manhattan Gunman Believed He Had CTE. What Does That Mean?

The gunman accused of killing four people in New York City suspected he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE — a degenerative brain disease often associated with football players.

The Guardian

Trust Your Gut and Fail Bravely: Seven Influential Women on the Advice They Would Give Their 30-Year-Old Selves

It’s tempting to imagine what we might have done differently. But, as Diana Nyad says: ‘We earn our wisdom.’

USA TODAY

Trump’s Trade Deal With the EU: What It Means for Your Wallet

The new tariff could increase prices on goods such as cars, furniture and pharmaceuticals. Trump's tariffs are expected to raise prices by 1.8% in the short term, per the Yale Budget Lab.

CNBC

Animal Shelters Are Crowded as High Costs Squeeze Pet Owners

Millions of animals are stuck in increasingly cramped shelters because their owners are struggling to pay rising vet bills and other expenses.