worth reading: august 5-september 3, 2025

happy September! 🍂

science and math:

“The Most Interesting Email I Ever Received: Remembering the Incredible Life of DIY Geneticist Jill Viles” by David Epstein
- the original article: “The DIY Scientist, the Olympian, and the Mutated Gene” by David Epstein
- these are so interesting. what an incredible person!
“At 17, Hannah Cairo Solved a Major Math Mystery” by Kevin Hartnett
“Dicing an Onion the Mathematically Optimal Way” by Andrew Aquino, Russell Samora, and Jan Diehm (thanks KQ!)
- not gonna lie: I was way more into admiring the onion font than I was in finding out the mathematically optimal way to dice an onion
“The Relativity of Wrong” by Isaac Asimov

animals:

“Dining with Robins” by Robert Francis
- this entire Substack looks great. bird history!
“Empire of flight” by Antone Martinho-Truswell
“All Hail the Mighty Snail” by Dina Bachman
- worth it just for how much you can tell the author enjoyed writing this
“Unmasking the Sea Star Killer” by Craig Welch
- death to purple urchins! sea stars forever!!!
two new pieces by the inimitable Sabrina Imbler:
- “Brother May I Have Some Rat”
- “Where Are You Going, Fish?”

people doing daring and adventurous things:

“At 40, She Discovered She Was One of America’s Best Free Divers” by Lauren Larson
- I also enjoyed this piece from the archives which was recommended at the bottom: “Down in the Depths” by Stephen Harrigan
- 1) reading nonfiction about diving is one of my semi-niche interests, and 2) dang, should I be reading more of Texas Monthly?
“Whiteouts, Ice Roads, and Wolverines: What Working at a Diamond Mine in the Far North Is Like” by Jeremy Thomas Gilmer

food:

“The Great White Spice Conspiracy” by Chason Gordon
- Links to: “Why is Everything Spicy Now?” by Ellen Cushing (unpaywalled)
“Rice Krispies Treats Are Upending the Billion-Dollar Athlete-Fuel Wars” by Cindy Kuzma
- love the image of this guy riding the Tour de France with 10+ rice krispies stuffed in his vest
“The Great French Fry Mystery” by Harley Rustad and Graham Roumieu
McBroken by Rashiq Zahid

two profiles of authors I admire in The New Yorker:

misc, this time consisting of: solar power, swords, yo-yos, mushrooms, and emails:

“Rooftop Solar Is a Miracle. Why Are We Killing It With Red Tape?” by Bill McKibben
“The Great Sword Heist of 2025” by Talia Lavin
- which led me to check out: Battling Blades, for all your sword needs
“Hajime Miura – 3A World YoYo Champion – World YoYo Contest 2025” by International YoYo Federation @ YouTube
- which led to a recommendation to watch: “The Player Who Broke Competitive Yo-Yo” by RESPRiT @ YouTube
- first of all this dude is incredible. second of all, is it supposed to be "YoYo" in camelcase? "Yo-yo?" "Yo-Yo?"
The Mushroom Color Atlas by Julie Beeler, Brad Johnson, Danny Rosenberg, and Yuli Gates
- delightful to scroll through
“E-Mail Addresses It Would Be Really Annoying to Give Out Over the Phone” by Michael Ward
- there are only five of them but it does deliver on its promise.