All posts tagged: edition of The Wonder Reader

The wisdom of the teen

Published by skeptic

Their stage of life defies clear categorization. Brian Finke / Gallery Stock March 23, 2024, 9:40 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. Teens exist in the murky space between youth and maturity—and in decades past, when the teen babysitter was a staple of American life, adults seemed to understand that. They recognized, my colleague Faith Hill writes in a new essay, that the teen babysitter “was grown-up enough to be an extra eye in the home—but childlike enough to go looking for snacks.” Faith reports that, today, the teen babysitter has all but disappeared: Many parents now believe that kids who are 12 or 13, once a standard babysitting age, shouldn’t even be left alone at home. “People seem to worry less about adolescents and more for them, and for their future prospects,” she writes. As Faith traces the decline of the …

How to teach the thrill of reading

Published by skeptic

This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. This week, The Atlantic published its list of the 136 most significant American novels of the past century. “Our goal was to single out those classics that stand the test of time, but also to make the case for the unexpected, the unfairly forgotten, and the recently published works that already feel indelible,” my colleagues wrote in their introduction. “We aimed for comprehensiveness, rigor, and open-mindedness. Serendipity, too: We hoped to replicate that particular joy of a friend pressing a book into your hand and saying, ‘You have to read this; you’ll love it.’” That last line reminded me of the serendipity that’s always at play when we pick up a book. Happening upon the right words at the right moment, and in the right frame of mind, isn’t easy; when all those pieces fall into place, it …

Can Anyone Learn to Sing?

Published by skeptic

This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. “There is nothing quite so vulnerable as a person caught up in a lyric impulse,” Roy Blount Jr. wrote in our February 1982 issue. What makes the situation even more vulnerable is to be among the group that Blount calls “the singing-impaired.” Some research suggests that it’s easier to improve a singing voice than you might think. But even for those whose prognosis is hopeless, there’s joy to be found in the act of singing. Today’s newsletter explores how the singing voice actually works, and what humans can create when we sing together. On Singing Why the Best Singers Can’t Always Sing Their Own Songs By Marc Hogan Performing pop songs live offers a thrilling reward—if your voice doesn’t betray you, that is. Read the article. What Babies Hear When You Sing to Them By Kathryn Hymes And …

The politics of noise and silence

Published by skeptic

“Silence was more than the absence of noise; it was an aesthetic to be revered,” Xochitl Gonzalez wrote in 2022. David Gray / Reuters / The Atlantic February 24, 2024, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. One of my favorite descriptions of New York City life comes from a 2022 article my by colleague Xochitl Gonzalez: New York in the summer is a noisy place, especially if you don’t have money. The rich run off to the Hamptons or Maine. The bourgeoisie are safely shielded by the hum of their central air, their petite cousins by the roar of their window units. But for the broke—the have-littles and have-nots—summer means an open window, through which the clatter of the city becomes the soundtrack to life: motorcycles revving, buses braking, couples squabbling, children summoning one another out to play, and music. Ceaseless …

How to disagree better – The Atlantic

Published by Sam

Our writers’ perspectives on arguing and communicating in healthier ways Damir Sagolj / Reuters February 17, 2024, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. In the 1887 essay “Silent People as Misjudged by the Noisy,” an Atlantic contributor proposed an economical approach to talking: “As we get on in life past the period of obstreperous youth, we incline to talk less and write less, especially on the topics which we have most at heart,” the writer noted. “We are beginning to realize the uselessness of perpetually talking … If there is a thing to be said, we prefer to wait and say it only when and where it will hit something or somebody.” Many of us wish we were better at waiting to speak until we knew our words would “hit something or somebody” exactly how we want them to. But more …

Why productivity makes us so anxious

Published by skeptic

Our writers’ most helpful insights on getting things done without stressing about them too much. Francois Lenoir / Reuters February 10, 2024, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. “Productivity is a sore subject for a lot of people,” my colleague Amanda Mull wrote last fall—and I’ll admit that just reading that line makes me feel a little stressed. Perhaps it’s because, as Amanda puts it, “Americans invest personal productivity with moral weight, as though human worth can be divined through careful examination of work product, both professional and personal.” Today’s reading list is an attempt to contemplate productivity without experiencing the accompanying anxiety. I’ve rounded up some of our writers’ most helpful insights on getting things done and conceptualizing productivity’s role in your life. On Getting Things Done The Only Productivity Hack That Works on Me By Amanda Mull Never underestimate …

How Relationships Grow, and How They Break

Published by skeptic

Reading about others’ experiences can help us navigate the complexities of love and care. David Gregg / Getty February 3, 2024, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. “The reason my marriage fell apart seems absurd when I describe it: My wife left me because sometimes I leave dishes by the sink,” Matthew Fray wrote in 2022. “It makes her seem ridiculous and makes me seem like a victim of unfair expectations. But it wasn’t the dishes, not really—it was what they represented … It was about consideration. About the pervasive sense that she was married to someone who did not respect or appreciate her.” “She knew that something was wrong,” Fray explained. “I insisted that everything was fine. This is how my marriage ended. It could be how yours ends too.” His essay is a heartbreaking but helpful example of the …

Why “adulthood” is impossible to define

Published by skeptic

The markers of “growing up” are constantly evolving. Adam Maida / The Atlantic / Getty January 27, 2024, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. What does it really mean to “grow up”? As my colleague Julie Beck noted in 2016, markers of adulthood are always evolving, and a set definition is impossible to come by. (When I was a young child, I was convinced that turning 11 would signal adulthood in a significant way—something about the double one felt impossibly mature—but that didn’t really prove to be a helpful framework.) Each possible meaning of “adulthood”—financial independence, living alone, having kids—brings with it an assumption about what should matter, both to an individual and to society. Today’s newsletter explores some of these assumptions, and how the concept of “growing up” has changed. Americans Can’t Decide What It Means to Grow Up By …

How We Talk – The Atlantic

Published by skeptic

Texting, calling, voice notes, group chats: Humans’ relationship to the phone is constantly evolving. Alexey Boldin / Shutterstock / The Atlantic January 6, 2024, 9:41 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. Gathering with family can be a chance to observe up close how multiple generations live their lives. One fascinating instance I’ve been thinking about lately: the way people interact with their phones. Home for the holidays, one might’ve encountered the avid texters, the old-fashioned phone talkers (those can exist across generations), the group-chat fiends, the brave (or perhaps annoying) voice-note senders. Each person’s relationship with their phone is different, of course—a murky combination of age, preference, and environment, among other things. Today’s newsletter rounds up some of our writers’ analysis on ever-evolving modes of phone communication, from those that grate on us to those that connect us. On Talking Maybe Don’t …

A better way to make New Year’s resolutions

Published by skeptic

In the quest for personal change, the method matters. Ken Harding / BIPs / Getty December 30, 2023, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. Early in 2023, my colleague Caroline Mimbs Nyce chatted with the writer Oliver Burkeman about New Year’s resolutions. Burkeman is an expert on productivity, but he’s arguably also an expert on getting real about the time human beings have on Earth. Burkeman is the author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mere Mortals (4,000 weeks is approximately the length of an average American’s life span). In it, he writes: “The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short.” With this in mind, Caroline asked Burkeman: “Do you think New Year’s resolutions are worth making, considering we’re all going to die, as your book posits so bluntly?” Burkeman has hope for the concept of the resolution. “Confronting …

Skeptic Society Magazine

for honest conversations

Years

Authors

Filter by Month

Filter by Categories

Filter by Tags

All posts tagged: edition of The Wonder Reader