worth reading: june 18-august 4, 2025

did you know that if you search "it's august" in duckduckgo one of the top results is for a bougie organic menstrual care product company? now you know

animals:

“The Wild Within the Walls” by the Homo Ambiens Collective and Krista Langlois
“The Fish That Climbed a Mountain” by Alex Brown
“Bill Shapes, Ranked” by Barry Petchesky
- defector has been on fire recently!!
“‘Things keep evolving into anteaters.’ Odd animals arose at least 12 separate times” by Jake Buehler
- huge W for me personally, someone who sometimes uses a photo of an anteater as a profile photo

tech:

Historical Tech Tree by Étienne Fortier-Dubois
“The tech that the US Post Office gave us” by Emma Roth (unpaywalled)
Making Software by Dan Hollick, specifically the first chapter "How does a screen work?"
- those visualizations!

art and music:

“Heavyweight: An Art Project About Lawyer Vibes” by Kendra Albert
“The Art of Roland-Garros” by Juan Buis
- these are so excellent. personal favorites: 1983, 2007, 2018 :)
“Shark Dentist combines two phobias into one ridiculous roguelike” by Claire Lewis
- obsessed with this concept
dipped my toe very slightly into music journalism because I liked this one author's style:
- “The Battle to Save the Soul of City Pop from AI” by Kieran Press-Reynolds
- “How Phonk Became the Most Lucrative Yet Lifeless Genre of the 2020s” by Kieran Press-Reynolds
  - iykyk 🙈
- “Raving in Electrolimbo: Why Won't the Industry Embrace the Future?” by Kieran Press-Reynolds

being online:

“What Does Virality Taste Like?” by Tanya Bush
“in the belly of the MrBeast” by Kevin Munger
- kind of obsessed with this one
“In my zombie era” by Sam Kriss
“Knock it off!” by Mia Sato (unpaywalled)
“My Scammer” by Alexander Sammon

things specifically relevant to new york city for some reason:

Weather Watching by Riley Walz
- can someone explain what "wearing pants" is supposed to tell me about the weather.
“NYC’s Urban Textscape” by Yufeng Zhao and Matt Daniels (thanks MC!)

human interest:

everything in this section is good and I'd highly recommend any of them! I did read all of them closely and from beginning to end with my human brain 👍 (not a sarcastic statement)

“I Randomly Decided To Pay Off A School’s Lunch Debt. Then Something Incredible Happened.” by DJ Bracken
“My Family and the Flood: A Firsthand Account” by Aaron Parsley
“A Family Doctor’s Search for Salvation” by Joshua Rothman (unpaywalled)
“The Girl in the Window” by Lane DeGregory, Melissa Lyttle, and Lara Cerri
“Seven Days at the Bin Store” by Jen Kinney

infrastructure:

“We Live Like Royalty and Don’t Know It” by Charles C. Mann
The Maintainers Study Guide

misc:

ThanAverage by Fred Wordie
- definitely try this one out! the design is really good too
“New Sphere-Packing Record Stems From an Unexpected Source” by Joseph Howlett
“The Penny Farthing Is Alive And Well In 2025” by Riley MacLeod
What Dan Read (thanks KQ!)