Pocket-Worthy Reads

Stories to fuel your mind

Fast Company

How to Be Mentally Tough Without Sacrificing Emotional Intelligence

You might think being mentally tough means ignoring your emotions. It’s actually the opposite.

Mental Floss

10 Chance Meetings That Changed the World

Whether you call it destiny or coincidence, there’s no denying that these chance encounters changed the world.

The Drive

How to Change a Car Battery

The basic steps to swap out a dead battery for a new one.

Runner’s World

How to Learn to Love Solo Running

Use these psychological tools if you struggle running by yourself.

The Hustle

The Curious Case of the Disappearing Hydrox Cookies

Oreo, the Hydrox knockoff, has been accused of burying its competitor by scoring sweetheart deals with grocers. Does it wield too much power over smaller rivals?

BBC News

How to Cool Your Home in a Warming World

Does your home become unbearable in hot weather? Increasingly a hot home is an overheating office too.

BBC Future

Can You Delay Aging by Refusing to Act Your Age?

When old age starts depend on where you live in the world. But it may also partly depend on how you view aging. Can you delay it with a positive attitude?

Bustle

Is Cortisol The Reason You Keep Waking Up At 3 A.M.?

TikTokers are blaming high cortisol levels for their restlessness at night. But sleep experts say it’s more complicated than you think.

BBC Worklife

How the Busiest People Get ‘Deep Work’ Done

For busy people, finding time for uninterrupted work may feel utterly unrealistic. But there are methods we can use to optimise what limited ‘deep work’ time we have.

Literary Hub

The 12 Greatest, Strangest, Most Transfixing Dance Scenes in the History of Crime Movies

Because people may cheat, steal, and kill, but their hips don't lie.

MIT Technology Review

Confessions of an Accidental Job Destroyer

Behind every piece of automation is a human who made it happen.

Stylist

The Scorpion Stretch Will Loosen Your Tight Hips and Lower Back

One of the best ways to release the tissue and decompress the bones and joints.

Popular Collections

Curated guides to the best reads on the web

Pocket Collections

The Art of Navigating Thorny Office Politics

From bad bosses to gossipy colleagues and, of course, office refrigerator drama.

Today’s Pocket Hits

Wednesday, June 11

The New Yorker

How I Learned to Become an Intimacy Coördinator

At a sex-choreography workshop, a writer discovered a world of Instant Chemistry exercises and nudity riders to train for Hollywood’s most controversial job.

POLITICO

The Moviemakers Breaking With Liberal Hollywood

Faith-based production companies insist they are not explicitly Republican. But they’re selling a vision of American culture to an audience that’s sick of liberal Hollywood.

Men’s Health

The New Science of Hip Mobility

Own the weight room, crush backyard football, and beat back pain by strengthening and stretching your hips.

The Atlantic

Witness

What years of witnessing executions taught me about sin, mercy, and the possibility of redemption.

Current Affairs

Shrimp Are the Most Abused Animals on Earth

Many people may not think about small creatures like shrimp. But shrimp make up most of the animals that are alive on factory farms at a given moment, and their potential suffering needs to be taken seriously.

BBC

How Being Alone Can Make You Happier

From spending time by yourself to making the most of being single, flying solo can be fulfilling – a philosophy championed by a new wave of books.

Men’s Health

5 Questions Your Doctor Wishes You’d Ask

This list will help you make the most of your next appointment.

SELF

I’m a Neurologist. Here’s the One Thing I Do Every Day for My Long-Term Brain Health

If you’re worried about cognitive decline, add this to your routine.

Recommended Reads

Curated by Pocket

CBS News

First-Time Homebuyers Are an Endangered Species in the U.S.

Buying your first home is a key to building wealth in the U.S. Yet stepping onto the property ladder is a vanishing dream for many Americans.

The New Yorker

The Forgotten Inventor of the Sitcom

Gertrude Berg’s “The Goldbergs” was a bold, beloved portrait of a Jewish family. Then the blacklist obliterated her legacy.

Big Think

Astronomers Close in on the Source of the Highest Energy Particles

On Earth, our particle accelerators can reach tera-electron-volt (TeV) energies. Particles from space are thousands of times as energetic.

SELF

The Best Drinks of 2025: SELF Pantry Award Winners

SELF editors went down the beverage rabbit hole to find the best oat milk, prebiotic soda, protein shakes, and more for the 2025 Pantry Awards.

SELF

Poached Chicken With Lemongrass Veggies and Sticky Rice

Keep this recipe in your back pocket for those nights when you need a dinner that’s simple yet satisfying.

Vox

Why Is Gen Z Getting More Religious? We Asked Them.

Gen Z is reversing a major trend in religion.

BBC

China’s Electric Cars Are Becoming Slicker and Cheaper - but Is There a Deeper Cost?

The future for EVs will inevitably involve China. But where does that leave the UK and Europe markets – and what of the questions around national security?

Big Think

What Happens the Day After Humanity Creates AGI?

“We are racing towards a new era in which we outsource cognitive abilities that are central to our identity as thinking beings.”

Popular Science

Paleontologists Dig Through Fossilized Dino Guts to See What’s Inside

The well-preserved remains of a sauropod’s stomach reveals that they barely chewed their food.

ESPN

Answering Big Questions on Second-Year NFL Quarterbacks

We answered key questions about quarterbacks from the 2024 draft class, including Michael Penix Jr., Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels.

Esquire

The Definitive Guide to Digital Watches

We love a mechanical watch. Who doesn’t!? But there are times when you’ll need a quartz-powered, easy-to-read screen. Here’s what you need to know and the best in the market.

Business Insider

A Top Wall Street Analyst Used ChatGPT and Gemini to Assess Google Risks. He Came Away Impressed.

Evercore analyst Mark Mahaney used ChatGPT and Gemini to predict Google’s antitrust case outcomes, showing AI’s potential to transform legal analysis.

Life Hacks

Tips for better living

Vox

We’re Secretly Winning the War on Cancer

The quiet revolutions that have prevented millions of cancer deaths.

Men's Health

Inside the Brave New World of Streetlifting

The love child of calisthenics and weightlifting is about to make all of us rethink what it means to be strong.

Men's Health

I Thought I Knew What Strength Looked Like. Then I Experienced Streetlifting.

It totally changed the way I approach my training.

The Week

Average Retirement Savings by Age: How Do You Stack up?

Determine whether you're being appropriately frugal or going overboard.

The Week

Orthorexia Nervosa: When Clean Eating Goes Too Far

Disordered eating focused on extreme healthy eating has been on the rise in recent years, researchers have found.

HuffPost

‘Dry Begging’ Is a Form of Emotional Manipulation That Sounds All Too Familiar

Read this if you regularly hear statements like “I wish I had a partner who cooks” or “some people would be thrilled to have someone who loves them so much.”

IEEE

Getting Past Procastination

Create systems that allow you to be consistently productive.

HuffPost

This Sweet TikTok Trend Is Actually Helping People Deepen Their Friendships

You might be really shocked to see what your friends’ reactions are.

The Conversation

Your Brain Learns From Rejection − Here’s How It Becomes Your Compass for Connection

Rejection can feel physically painful. It also provides a lesson for your brain on whom to connect with and how.

Kiplinger

What Boomers and Gen Xers Can Learn From Younger Colleagues

Whether you’re a baby boomer or Gen Xer, your younger colleagues’ approach to work may help you find a new job or be happier in the one you’ve got.

Newsweek

Millions of Americans See Credit Scores Plunge

The credit scores of millions of Americans have plummeted in the first quarter of the year as a result of rising student loan delinquency rates, following the end of a years-long pause on federal payments.

Vox

First Comes Marriage. Then Comes a Flirtatious Colleague.

What to do when your partner wants an open marriage and you don’t.