The joys of being an absolute beginner – for life
A look at the pleasures of adult learning.
Boss of the Beach
A story of power and patronage in a perhaps unexpected place, the New York beach lifeguarding fiefdom of Peter Stein, who presided over a network of lifeguards named by one as “La Cosa Nostra.”
The Cave Kingpin Buying Up America’s Underground
The story of an eccentric millionaire with a passion for caves that extends to purchasing and charting huge numbers of them, mainly in Minnesota. His methods have proven controversial.
City of Solitude
This story weaves together evocative testimony of life under and after lockdown from residents of Wuhan, the first epicenter of the covid-19 pandemic.
The peak
A powerful account of a night at London’s University College Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, on the peak night to date for deaths in hospitals from covid-19 in the UK, from the perspective of one of the leading consultants working there.
Thirty-six Thousand Feet Under the Sea
An occasionally deeply tense read that examines the work of a “proper band of thieves” exploring deep parts of the sea.
The haunting of Girlstown
The story of a strange outbreak at a Catholic school in Mexico in 2006. Girls reported pain in their legs, nausea, and fever. When the cases spread to hundreds of pupils, the government sent a psychiatrist specialised in adolescents experiencing psychosomatic illnesses to investigate. The story is currently being turned into a film.
OTL: Michael Jordan Has Not Left The Building
A 2013 profile of Michael Jordan as he turned 50 is a well-wrought study of one of the most high profile professional athletes of all time.
What Happened to Val Kilmer? He’s Just Starting to Figure It Out.
Yes, this is a profile of Val Kilmer, but it’s also something more far reaching, reflecting on the world in lockdown, religious belief and serious illness, Mark Twain, and the perverse impact that fame can have (“God wants us to walk, but the devil sends a limo.”).