The reported essays reflect great skill in combining facts, anecdotes, and personal observations to tell a compelling story. These are the works we can’t stop thinking about, the works we’ll forever recommend to friends, the works that surprised and delighted us, all selected from a vast and deep pool of editors. enjoy!
Summer Pretorius | Nautilus | December 19, 2022 | 3,975 words
This work by paleoclimatologist Summer Pretorius is part memoir, part scientific paper, but it was published in mid-December last year, too late to be included in our best of 2022 collection. However, technically it could not be included in this collection. But I’m making an exception. (As Pretorius describes the Great Unconformity, a billion-year gap in Earth’s unrecorded history from 1.6 billion years ago to 600 million years ago, there are eras that seem forgotten that need to be discovered. The reason I keep coming back to this issue is because of Pretorius’ vast understanding of Earth’s history over hundreds of millions of years. is. She simplifies complex concepts about geological amnesia, resilience, and system collapse to make them easier to understand for general readers. I love the beautiful way she describes the Earth’s memory, recorded in layers of sediment and held in disappearing ice sheets, in what she calls “the great brain of the Earth.” . But she also weaves in a deeply personal account of her late brother Jebsen’s mental deterioration after a snowboarding accident, a complex system so far out of equilibrium that it cannot effectively recover. This is another example of this. This parallel story helps make this work more relatable on a more intimate scale. Recalling the first signs of memory loss as Jebsen sat in the backseat on the ride home from the woods, she now realizes that he has changed forever from that moment on. I realized I would never recover. “I’m stuck on our inaction. About the lack of action we took to assess the greater damage that may have been hiding down the hole in his memory,” she said. is writing. It’s not that she and her mother didn’t care about his health, but they probably didn’t believe it was anything serious at first. As Pretorius moves between his family story and scientific research, you can’t help but ask. How resilient is our planet? Are we recognizing the warning signs and acting on them? —CLR
Jennifer Sr. | The Atlantic | August 7, 2023 | 13,585 words
So many families, including my family and perhaps yours, have experiences and events that they cannot talk about, that are rooted in regret and shame, and that all involved wish to forget or remain silent. Masu. But will silence bring solace, or will it ensure irreparable harm, perhaps even greater than the pain of confronting the past? This is just one of the important themes Jennifer Sr. explores in her book, The Ones We Sent Away. This is a great essay that I have been thinking about ever since I read it in August. The film centers on Sr.’s aunt Adele, who was institutionalized in 1953 at the age of 21 months. Adele was diagnosed with microcephaly, and the well-meaning advice of her doctors separated her from the people who loved her most in this world. The story is primarily about loss and trauma, primarily the trauma Adele endured while institutionalized and the immense loss she suffered from not receiving enlightened care. Adele’s family also suffered, having been robbed of her vibrant spirit. With deep care and nuance, Senior examines the institutional and societal failures that determined it was best to separate Adele from her family. In writing this essay, she took a close look at her past decision-makers and turned the microscope on herself. As a journalist writing about her aunt who doesn’t give her consent, Senior believes she faces an ethical dilemma, just like the doctors who suggested Adele be institutionalized. I noticed that. She had good intentions, just like they did. By sharing Adele’s story, Senior is not only trying to avoid harm, but perhaps for other families facing similar decisions today, perhaps staying silent for fear of facing an unpleasant and painful past. I want to do good things for everyone who sits there. Through Adele’s amazing story, Senior she suggests that in order to act better as humans, we must first have enough courage to talk about it. —K.S.
Nick Bolin | Drift | July 9, 2023 | 7,602 words
Here’s my endorsement: I tend to rant about Tesla not only because of Elon Musk’s waste of space and shoddy construction of EVs, but also because of this essay. In March, author Nick Bowlin attended the annual conference in Toronto, Ontario. There, he says, “the institutions that make up the global metals mining industry commiserate in the bad times and celebrate the good times.” In a perverse twist, Bowlin discovered that despite climate change, 2023 is clearly a good time to mine. because Its. A world hungry for batteries, solar panels and other necessities of a decarbonized economy means demand for metals is growing, and mining interests are revamping their image and making bank I’m seizing the opportunity. “It takes us to stop global warming,” said one conference speaker. But expanding the profits of the world’s most notoriously exploitative corporations comes at a terrible price: the earth, the miners, and the inhabitants of the metal-rich lands. Bowlin doesn’t suggest that mining can’t be part of a green solution. Rather, his essay brilliantly highlights the dangers of relying on the blunt instruments of late capitalism and maximalist thinking to save the world. —SD
Guy D. Middleton | Aeon | July 4, 2023 | 4,000 words
While the reported essays are extensive, historical reporting is often overlooked. This is a difficult skill. Evoking events from hundreds or even thousands of years ago is no mean feat. But when done well, historical works can be engaging and engaging reportage. In this essay on ancient Pompeii, ion, Guy D. Middleton attracted attention for his graffiti reading “Eutykis, Sweet Way Greek Daughter, Two Donkeys” on the entrance wall of a wealthy house owned by two freedmen, the Vetti family. . Explaining how to do “doodle”. . . Middleton comes not from the literature of the elite or the inscriptions of the powerful, but from a wider cross-section of society. ” Middleton takes us deep into Pompeii and sets out to discover who Eutychis is. Expect brothel betrayal, brutal slavery, and sexual abuse. The meaning of every word of the crude advertisement is examined, along with texts, paintings, and artifacts that add further insight into this cruel world. (Particularly revealing is that the lead collar is inscribed with the words, “This is a rogue prostitute! She ran from Bra Regia, get her.”) Making history accessible through clever tools. And Eutychis can call to us from almost anywhere. 2000 years ago. —C.W.
Tom Vanderbilt | harpers magazine | March 20, 2023 | 5,339 words
Despite the fact that I’m one of those clean but messy people, I also love precision. Accuracy. The idea of constants. This spills over into an interest in measurement in general.That’s not it hobby—I don’t collect rulers or use a torque wrench to assemble Ikea shelves. However, I have a deep-rooted curiosity. And that seems to be shared by Tom Vanderbilt, judging by his quest. harpers To find the second truth. As with much of his writing, he begins by answering the question (in this case, what makes the clock tick?) as politely as possible. The characters don’t just talk, they express “weary resignation” and “[nodding] Excited.” They refer to statistical noise as “jiggly jiggly”. Vanderbilt knows that seasoning becomes even more important when the rest of the recipe includes crunchy concepts like dematerialization or celestial seconds. Who wouldn’t feel a little thrill knowing that researchers had to travel to France to compare their kilograms with the platinum-iridium cylinders that were once considered the “official” kilograms? . Who wouldn’t be a little awed by the idea that an official second hand doesn’t actually exist, but is essentially spewed out by a 9-billion-step Rube Goldberg machine made of cesium atoms? Or? His science writing is like a travelogue. If you look to the left, you will see the world’s smallest ruler. If you want to take your reader through an abstract world, you need to make the concrete parts interesting. —PR
You can also browse all year-end collections from 2011 onwards in one place.