An arresting excerpt from Howard Cunnell’s memoir Fathers & Sons, exploring what it is to grow up, to have a family, to be a parent, and through this to examine what he terms (in a phrase borrowed from a poem by another writer) “the shaping axe” of love. A fine piece of writing.
Quincy Jones is fantastically indiscreet in this interview, covering everything from his relationship with the Trumps, to Michael Jackson’s alleged theft of songs and The Beatles’ lack of musical talent.
A look at the life and work of Mauli Dhan and his fellow hunters, who climb rope ladders hundreds of feet up Himalayan cliffs to harvest “mad honey”, a naturally hallucinogenic honey that sells for high prices on the black market.
An often surreal peek inside the highly successful world of Goop. Gwyneth Paltrow started the business in her kitchen as an aspirational newsletter focusing on fashion and food, but it has now become a ‘wellness’ behemoth, offering a dizzying array of products and services. http://bit.ly/nyt-goop
A former US Marine returns to cities in Iraq where he fought and lost friends, and assesses the situation on the ground today.
The top tier chess tour is rife with unsavoury sponsors and political intrigue.
A look at life for followers of CrossFit, an extreme exercise programme and lifestyle likened by some sceptics to a cult.
Like many popular video games the multiplayer first person shooter Counter-Strike is (very) big business, for star player and publisher alike. Less common is a secondary market for in game modifications that has developed into a minimally regulated multi-billion dollar gambling network.
The author tells the story of how he came to receive a lifetime ban from the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, and reflects on the nature of tourism.
This piece examines a memoir written by a former waiter at Paris’ celebrated Brasserie Lipp. In the manuscript, this unassuming man describes the horror of the Holocaust and deeds of extraordinary derring-do including infiltrating the SS, joining resistance groups, and hunting Nazis after the war whilst serving as a member of the French Foreign Legion. It’s far from clear whether large parts of the story are true or not, but perhaps that’s not the point.