I have been reading a lot of articles as I add them to this article library. Here are some of my recent favorites:

(All article links go to the original article link. Author, publication and list links go to their collections on ponder for your convenience.)

The Sixth Extinction?

By Elizabeth Kolbert · The New Yorker · May 2009

An article by Elizabeth Kolbert that proceeded her Pulitzer prize winning book: The Sixth Extinction.

This book changed the way I saw the world when I first read it a few years ago (The gist: Humans are causing a mass extinction similar to the dinosaur asteroid, but slower). Re-visiting these ideas in the form of an article, I was reminded how powerful it can be to come back and re-read something. Some of the ideas that this book outline are world-shattering truth bombs. Instead of rocking my world, as they did the first time, they allowed me to reflect.

If you enjoy this article, I cannot recommend the book enough. But be warned, you can never reverse blissful ignorance.

In a Heat Wave, Schizophrenia Is So Much Deadlier Than Any Other Medical Condition

By Hilary Beaumont · Wired · August 2026

This article shocked me, so I won't spoil it. Heat waves are apparently kryptonite to a person with schizophrenia and its more interesting than you think.

Long May They Reign

Nora Caplan-Bricker · The Atavist Magazine · May 2020

I love to read nature articles that inspire. Monarchs are such a special part of the ecosystem where I live and I knew less than I thought about them even though I've raised a few myself. Keep flying, little beauties.

Here's some goodish news: Eastern monarch butterfly populations saw a 64% increase in the 2025–2026 overwintering season. Western monarch populations remain very low despite the eastern gains.

Who Owns the Internet?

By Elizabeth Kolbert · The New Yorker · August 2017

Another by Elizabeth Kolbert, this time about the world wide web. The internet rewards clicks, even if something is toxic/shit/illegal. This one is bit outdated, but still relevant and powerfully written.

(One of the reasons I created the website ponder was because I wanted to find the BEST articles, not just the ones that get the most clicks. I hope it can be a resource for others!)

Here are some other favorites that I read this month, in no particular order:

1. What Really Happened to Malaysia’s Missing Airplane · William Langewiesche · The Atlantic · June 2019
   1. If you haven't read any if William Langewiesche's pieces... you should!
2. The Mathematical Reason Most People Never "Make It" · Kaguura Gichuru · The Write Path · January 2026
   1. "Discover Price's Law: why the square root of people do 50% of the work"
3. There Is No Male Loneliness Crisis. What’s Actually Happening Is So Much Darker · Nick Keppler · Slate · August 2026
   1. "One group of people is more isolated than anyone else. It’s not men."
4. ‘Enshittification’ is coming for absolutely everything · Cory Doctorow · Financial Times · May 2024
   1. "The term describes the slow decay of online platforms such as Facebook. But what if we’ve entered the ‘enshittocene’?"
5. Reading is magic · Sam Kriss · Numb at the Lodge · April 2026
   1. "What will happen in our second peasanthood"
6. A Custody Fight Between a Chinese Man and Florida Surrogate · Emi Nietfeld · The Cut · August 2026
   1. "A Chinese man hired a Florida surrogate, then didn’t pick up his kids, sparking a custody battle that could upend the industry."
7. The Mysterious Art of Conducting · Matthew Aucoin · The Atlantic · August 2026
   1. As a former cellist, this article fascinated me far beyond what I expected. I learned how little I knew of the history of orchestral ensembles. It even inspired me to reach out to a local community orchestra!
8. 13 Ways of Looking · Lauren Markham · Pioneer Works · February 2025
   1. "How can we memorialize what we’re losing to climate change?"
9. What Science Knows About Grief · Amanda Petrusich · The New Yorker · June 2026
   1. "After my husband’s death, I had never been more pliable, tender, open, or raw. It was then that I tried E.M.D.R. therapy."

You can find everything that I read & rated in August here. I read a LOT of good articles in August, it was hard to pick this list!

If you are interesting in having your own shelf of articles that you've read and ones that you want to read later, or if you love finding the best articles on the internet, please consider joining our community on ponder. The library is user-fed, so it will grow exponentially with the community. I personally add trending articles every day to share with other users and friends.

(Based on recent activity on this sub, I just added "International" (175 articles so far) and "Natural Disaster" (50 articles so far) as topics to sort from.)

Happy reading! And thank you to you all in this sub for sharing so many great pieces with me.

Hi everyone! Sharing a handful of stories I read recently and wanted to share. I hope they scratch an itch, whether its learning something new, getting outraged on behalf of often marginalized communities, or a deep sense of Schadenfreude...

• NYT (Gift Link): Jon Ronson finds the one man the internet could name when YouTube Kids started serving children nightmares, and he was mowing lawns for a living.
• ABC Australia: Peter Thiel, Sam Altman and Marc Andreessen have money in a private city off the coast of Honduras where companies write their own regulations.
• Smithsonian Magazine: Helen Sullivan watched conservationists fly sedated wild dogs across borders to save the most hated carnivore in Africa.
• Aeon: Singapore beat its water problem, then assumed the same playbook would work for food.
• Toronto Life: Justin Aguiar built a pickup-artist empire charging men tens of thousands of dollars to become seduction masters, then multiple women accused him of sexual assault.
• Bloomberg (Gift Link): Ashley Flowers turned Crime Junkie into a true-crime juggernaut, but inside Audiochuck three CEOs quit in three years and her own happiness score cratered.
• Current Affairs: Alex Skopic traces how a workforce running on energy drinks and amphetamines reveals a society capitalism won't let sleep.
• NYT (Gift Link): Augustus and Beverly Grissett spent fifteen happy years at Nob Hill, until a private equity landlord let it fall apart, and both of them died within weeks of each other.

I share longform reporting and stories in my newsletter every day at noon (eastern US time). It is called Lunch Break Reads, if you are interested!