Speak, Memory
When Belarusian entrepreneur Roman Mazurenko died, his friend built a memorial to him – a chatbot that uses an archive of his text messages to recreate his voice and identity.
MIA
The remarkable reappearance in Vietnam in 2008 of an American commando whose helicopter went down in Laos half a century before was not all that it seemed.
Long Way Home
A piece about Henk De Velde, a man who has sailed around the world by himself six times.
Inside the Final Days of Robin Williams
The story of Robin Williams’ last days is about his genius, friendship, family and life.
Playing By Pyongyang’s Rules
The challenges of running a travel agency when your top destination is North Korea.
Searching for California’s Lost Viking Treasure Ship
A look at the work of the people who are convinced that a Viking treasure ship is buried somewhere in the California’s Colorado Desert.
My déja vu is so extreme I can’t tell what’s real any more
The author’s brain tumour has left him experiencing acute and persistent déja vu – here he his uses his personal experience to explore both the phenomenon and memory more broadly.
How Do You Rebuild Your Life After Leaving A Polygamous Sect?
A piece looking at the experience of women that have left the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and life in Short Creek, their base on the Arizona-Utah border.
Eyes Aloft
An insight into the world of aviation enthusiasts. Their activity is memorably described – “Their interests are so basic that they seem abstract: to appreciate planes; to record them; to appreciate them by recording them; and to record their own passion for recording.” Yet the piece shows how the information that they gather about the comings and goings of air traffic (including military and VIP flights) can fan out into public and political life.
Trained to Kill: How Four Boy Soldiers Survived Boko Haram
A moving and troubling piece recounting the experience of four boys abducted by a religious militia in Nigeria and forced to join their army. http://www.bit.ly//nyt-boko