Best Read This Week
When we’re not writing about lateral savings accounts or why you shouldn’t leave Facebook , Lifehacker employees can usually be found by reading their Pocket lists , browsing Reddit, or catching up with the latest bestsellers. Fortunately, reading is a big part of the job.
There are tons of good letters and reports, but this week we have these articles and books in mind. If you’re curious, add some bookmarks for a leisurely weekend reading and let us know what grabbed your attention this week.
Chief Editor Melissa Kirsch
I read and recommend ” Does Recovery Kill a Great Writer?” Leslie Jameson for The New York Times . She looks at the work of famous drunken writers after recovering for evidence that drinking alcohol is unnecessary for creativity. Like many of Jamison’s best essays, this one is equally personal and accountable, and it got me excited about releasing her new collection this year.
Contributing Editor Virginia K. Smith
Late to the game, but I finally read this New York profile of the gun lobbyist behind Florida’s insanely weak laws (which are then copied in other states). Unsettling, but so well written and communicated, and it is really helpful in understanding how politics is actually being done in this country.
Senior Technical Editor David Murphy
I read this article in the New York Times the other day and it really got me thinking about the future of housing in places like this (San Francisco, New York, etc.) and how dangerous this idea is, tbh. What happens when you get fired? Dismissed? Life is much more disastrous when you ALSO lose your house / apartment / whatever.
Health Editor Beth Skorecki
I am reading The Subversive Copy Editor . It’s not about how to edit, but all the interpersonal relationships that happen in this and many other positions. For example: how to give and receive criticism, how to maintain good working relationships with difficult people, how to stay on top when people are counting on you, and how to break the rules and get away with punishment (when it’s right to do it).
Staff Writer Nick Douglas
This week I read the book Demonology by King James. He wrote it as a Socratic dialogue explaining why witchcraft and witchcraft are real and bad, and is in many ways similar to Daniel Mallory Ortberg’s Two Monks Inventing Western Art series (unfortunately not online now). I would have ditched three books in a row before, but I was burning through this thin e-book in a couple of days.
Personal finance writer Alicia Adamchik
This collection of diary entries from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School students is so moving and moving that it made me burst into tears at least four times. I’m also a huge fan of writer and podcaster Jocelyn K. Gley and really enjoyed this interview she did, which is packed with good advice and insight into creativity.
What are you reading?