Required Reading

This week, blonde hair supremacy, Salman Rushdie’s new novel, and why do boutique shops all look the same?

This week, new chatbots will write your essays, psychedelics and climate activism, architectural media’s obsession with “house porn,” and much more.

This week, aliens might be closer than we thought, the Orange County Museum of Art is not ok, Harvard is a mess, how casteism is hurting representation in the sciences, and much more.

This week, the National Library of France gets an upgrade, finding the enslavers at the US Capitol, the beauty of MetroCards, headsets that kill, a fed-up librarian, and much more.

This week, a mysterious portrait of Joan Didion, considering Carolee Schneemann, privatizing libraries, Dalit discrimination, the “great internet grievance war,” and more.

This week, a rise in nuclear fusion, the downfall of the “COVID billionaire,” holiday string lights with a twist, and how many people would actually return a lost wallet?

This week, news outlets flock to TikTok, New York Times staff strikes, the problem with the phrase “late-term abortion,” and was the North Pole once a forest?

This week, missed signs of previous life on Mars, the appeal of forged art, and why are blue whales singing in lower octaves?

This week, arts orgs and the war for talent, importance of house museums, the 125 most borrowed books in Brooklyn, the history of listicles, and more.

This week, digital colonialism, America’s favorite wines, tech layoffs, Brutalist Taco Bells, and do people still write thank-you notes?

This week, voter surveys, the ideology of “longtermism,” Arthur gives Hyperallergic a shout-out, and more.

This week, Heidi Klum’s Halloween worm costume, the online therapy bubble, Noam Chomsky, and more.