Pocket-Worthy Reads

Stories to fuel your mind

Stylist

Never Hungry in the Morning? Here’s What Your Lack of Appetite Is Telling You

Many people struggle with a lack of appetite first thing in the morning. If that’s the case for you, your body could be trying to tell you something.

Fatherly

One Underrated Nature Show Drove Kids Wild

Let’s go back to the original Wild Kratts — Zoboomafoo.

GQ

Why Is Gen Z So Obsessed With ‘Old Money Style’?

A new generation has grown enamored with classic symbols of wealth—navy blazers and cable-knit sweaters, JFK Jr. and The Talented Mr. Ripley—with complicated implications.

Homes & Gardens

Best Trees to Grow in Pots – 16 Species to Suit Any Outdoor Space

Growing trees in containers gives us so much more freedom to plant creatively on our patios and terraces.

Scientific American

Borderline Personality Disorder May Be Rooted in Trauma

A focus on the traumatic origins of an often stigmatized psychiatric diagnosis is inspiring treatments.

Dwell

The Life-Changing Magic of “Knolling”

Before purging your belongings to tidy up, consider this organizational tactic championed by two artists.

The Guardian

‘People Eat Two or Three Packets a Day’: How Instant Noodles Took Over the World

High-salt, processed noodles have become a favourite cheap meal, especially in developing countries, but nutritionists warn of the health costs.

Greater Good Magazine

How Parents and Children Can Learn Emotional Skills Together

You can better connect with your children and their communities by learning social-emotional skills alongside them.

Narratively

Food Fads Have Always Been Ridiculous. Just Ask the Great Masticator.

Horace Fletcher preached the gospel of fanatically chewing food until it completely dissolved in the mouth. Even celebs like Upton Sinclair and Franz Kafka drank the Kool-Aid.

BBC Worklife

How Mindfulness Can Make You a Darker Person

Mindfulness is thought to have multiple benefits – but it can also make you less likely to feel guilty about wrongdoing and derail your moral compass.

The Atlantic

The Most Misunderstood Concept in Psychology

What are boundaries?

Fast Company

Do These 5 Emotionally Intelligent Things Within 5 Minutes Of Meeting Someone

Being instantly likable isn’t rocket science, but this checklist takes practice to master in the short space of a first impression.

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

Tuesday, July 29

NPR

She’s Trying to Open a Birth Center Near a Maternity Desert. It’s Not Easy.

When Katie Chubb was pregnant she wanted to have her baby at a birth center, but there was no local option. Now she's trying to open one herself. She has community support, but not from the hospitals.

The Guardian

Who Needs Quinoa? 17 Overlooked and Affordable Superfoods, From Peas and Potatoes to Popcorn and Even Sugar

Can’t afford goji berries, spirulina or turmeric – or just don’t like the taste? Most kitchens are full of healthy but unglamorous alternatives. Nutrition experts name their favourites.

The Guardian

The Rise and Fall of the British Cult That Hid in Plain Sight

Philippa Barnes was a child when her family joined the Jesus Fellowship. As an adult, she helped expose the shocking scale of abuse it had perpetrated.

Atlas Obscura

The Original ‘Survivor’ Island Changed Television Forever

Pulau Tiga, best known as the original ‘Survivor’ island, was as much of a character on the show as the contestants were.

POLITICO Europe

Inside the Wild World of Britain’s Private Spies

Lucrative, freewheeling — and largely unregulated — private intelligence and security firms are booming in the land of James Bond and John le Carré.

The 19th

Debbie Dingell Tells Her Story — Even When She Doesn’t Want To

The Michigan congresswoman is again recounting her childhood experiences as funding to combat domestic violence is under threat.

The New Yorker

“No Tax on Tips” Is an Industry Plant

Trump’s “populist” policy is backed by the National Restaurant Association—probably because it won’t stop establishments from paying servers below the minimum wage.

The Baffler

No Justice, No Shade

Increasing shade cover is essential to surviving the next, hotter chapter of urban living. Why are cities so often opposed?

Recommended Reads

Curated by Pocket

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.’

PS

I Went Through a “Sleep Divorce,” and It Was Amazing for My Marriage

Here’s how it went for one couple.

Martha Stewart

How to Paint a Room for a Flawless Finish, According to Experts

Painting a room can elevate it and take it to the next level—if you know what you’re doing.

W Magazine

Liza Minnelli Talks Her Life in Parties & Why She’ll Never Stop Dancing

From Studio 54 to sobriety, the icon revisits her star-studded nights out.

Los Angeles Times

‘Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time’ Focuses on Disaster Victims, Who Reflect 20 Years Later

The five-part documentary on National Geographic is at once highly compelling and difficult to watch, though you should.

Axios

Car Buyers Aren’t Waiting for Prices to Go Higher, Survey Finds

55% of Americans are now weighing car purchases in the year ahead, up from 47% in Q1.

Grist

The Guerilla Campaign to Save a Texas Prairie From ‘Silent Extinction’

“This is a war between us and the developers, and nobody’s calling uncle or throwing up white flags.”

Journal of Democracy

Venezuela’s Lost Year

A year ago Nicolás Maduro stole Venezuela’s election and entrenched his power by jailing and killing those who opposed him. But the world’s democracies don’t need to sit on the sidelines.

BBC

Record-Breaking Divers Are Pushing Human Limits and Reshaping Scientists’ View of Our Species

Humans have a long history of diving to forage from the seabed and today elite freedivers are reaching greater depths than ever. Some researchers argue humans belong in the sea.

Inc. Magazine

A Massive New Study of 24,000 People Says This Is What Happens to People Who Stay up Too Late Every Night

I’m a night owl, so I’m interested when I come across studies about what happens to people who habitually stay up late. Sometimes they can be disturbing, and sometimes they’re innocuous.

BBC

The F1 Driver Who Survived a Devastating Crash

The F1 champion Niki Lauda had a near-fatal accident in Germany in August 1976. After defying all expectations, he told the BBC in 1977 how he willed himself to stay alive.

The New York Times

How Parenting Changed After Etan Patz

Did the shocking disappearance of a 6-year-old in 1979 forever alter how Americans raised children? Or were there other reasons for parents to be anxious?

Life Hacks

Tips for better living

The Guardian

‘It Would Destroy Me’: Fear of Student Loan Default Haunts US Borrowers

The Trump administration has ended the pandemic-era pause on repayments, leaving many facing colossal debts.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Associated Press

If You Don’t Have Diabetes, Do You Really Need a Continuous Glucose Monitor?

A quarter-size device that tracks the rise and fall of sugar in your blood is the latest source of hope — and hype — in the growing buzz around wearable health technology.

The Atlantic

The Problem With Rewards Credit Cards

Their fees are getting higher—and their benefits are sometimes wildly complicated to redeem.

Axios

Why GLP-1s Could Become the “Everything Drug”

The biggest buzz around GLP-1 drugs these days has nothing to do with weight loss. And that might lead to some problems for patients and insurers.

Parents

A Parent Let Their Son Choose What to Do With Money They Found–Here’s What He Decided

Doing real-time experiments like this in the wild can teach us a lot about our kids and ourselves as parents.

Harvard Business Review

The Right Way to Prepare for a High-Stakes Conversation

Before commercial pilots push back from the gate, they complete a comprehensive preflight check to verify that every system functions correctly during the journey ahead.

NPR

Dear Life Kit: My Friend Says Ugly Things About Her Body and It Makes Me Anxious

Body-acceptance advocate Katie Sturino and Ronald Young Jr., host of the podcast Weight for It, answer listener questions about body image, weight loss drugs and bullying.

Kiplinger

Are You an Auto Theft Target? Discover the Clues

Thieves seized over 850,000 cars last year. See which models, states and behaviors draw the eyes of opportunists.