Pocket-Worthy Reads

Stories to fuel your mind

Nautilus

Most of the Mind Can’t Tell Fact from Fiction

Even after you understand how an illusion operates, it continues to fool part of your mind. This is the kind of double knowledge we have when we consume fiction.

Homes & Gardens

Why You Should Place Orange Peels Around Your Patio – An Organic Way To Deter Pests

Using orange peel to deter pests is a surprisingly simple way to achieve a healthy garden.

Smithsonian Magazine

Recovering the Lost Aviators of World War II

Inside the search for a plane shot down over the Pacific—and the new effort to bring its fallen heroes home.

Inc.

How to Take Better Notes for Information Retention

Educational psychologist Kenneth Kiewra has some advice to help you retain and remember more.

Mental Floss

A Brief History of Mad Magazine

Mad magazine gave us Alfred E. Neuman and Spy vs. Spy and made irreverent, anti-establishment humor a thing. Here’s what you need to know about ‘Mad.’

BBC Future

How to Use Anxiety to Your Advantage

From “eco-anxiety” to “FOMO”, modern life seems a stressful place to be. But psychologist Tracy Dennis-Tiwary explains why the emotion can be a good thing.

MIT Press Reader

Is Consciousness Everywhere?

Experience is in unexpected places, including in all animals, large and small, and perhaps even in brute matter itself.

Darius Foroux

22 Books That Expand Your Mind and Change The Way You Live

From books on history and philosophy to novels and biographies.

Knowable Magazine

What Sports Psychology Research Reveals About Athletes’ Performance

Scientists are probing the head games that influence athletic performance, from coaching to coping with pressure.

Fast Company

Why Doing the Easy Parts of Your To-Do List First Can Be a Bad Idea

There's a scientific reason you probably shouldn’t give in to the temptation to tackle the easy things on your to-do list first.

BBC News

Five Hours’ Sleep Is Tipping Point for Bad Health

At least five hours sleep a night may cut the over-50s’ chances of multiple chronic health problems, researchers say.

Inverse

How Much Sleep Do You Need When You Are Sick? A Lot More Than You Think

When we’re sick, all we want to do is sleep. But it is far easier said than done.

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

Saturday, June 14

Mother Jones

Parental Rights Is a Movement With Deep Roots. It’s Spreading Nationwide.

A “no-guardrails” version has become a cornerstone of Donald Trump’s authoritarian agenda.

The Hollywood Reporter

The Best Stunts of All Time, Over Nearly 100 Years of the Oscars

A year-by-year “what if” filling in a century-long gap of Academy Awards recognition for noteworthy stunt artistry and design in Hollywood movies.

Cal Matters

The Man Who Unsolved a Murder

The lack of investigators affects counties throughout the state, from poor, rural areas to the state’s largest and most well-funded public defense offices.

The New York Times

Is Biography the One A.I.-Proof Genre?

Each age has its own way of drawing the arc of a human life. Ours is concerned with its unpredictability.

WIRED

The Blind Leading the Gamers

Ross Minor lost his eyesight at 8 years old. Today, he’s a hardcore gamer who runs YouTube and Twitch channels and consults for big studios. This is not—necessarily—an inspirational story.

IEEE Spectrum

Three Steps to Stopping Killer Asteroids

Planetary defense tech would find and divert hard-to-spot near-Earth objects.

The Atlantic

Inside the Exclusive, Obsessive, Surprisingly Litigious World of Luxury Fitness

How Tracy Anderson built an exercise empire.

Glamour

How to Get Rid of Sunburn Fast, According to Dermatologists

Follow these steps for redness relief.

Recommended Reads

Curated by Pocket

Axios

The Elon Musk DOGE Legacy That Just Won’t Die

Musk may have left Washington, but some people are still doing the tasks he left behind.

Fast Company

Bravo’s Top Exec Shares Why They Don’t Film ‘Housewives’ While a New Season Is Airing

Frances Berwick, chair of Bravo and Peacock Unscripted, breaks down the art of building a strong reality TV franchise.

The Conversation

Why Can’t We Stop Feeding Monkeys? Experts Explain the Reasons Behind a Dangerous Habit

Recent research explores what drives this human behaviour.

GQ

One Simple Trick for Getting Your Teen Daughter to Talk to You

Cultural critic Lawrence Burney writes about the ritual of exchanging songs with his daughter on car rides and how it’s become “one of the more useful tools for keeping a constant stream of conversation going.”

Popular Science

Bacteria Will Turn to Murder If They Get Hungry Enough

‘When things get tough, you eat your neighbors.’

The New York Times

Is There a Safest Seat in a Plane Crash? We Asked Experts.

Suddenly, airline passengers around the world are wondering if there is something special about Seat 11A.

The Conversation

What Is the Summer Solstice? An Astronomer Explains

The tilt of Earth’s axis as it orbits the Sun results in the seasonal changes.

The Hollywood Reporter

Hollywood’s Top Marketers of 2025

As leaders from tech, marketing and entertainment convene for Cannes Lions, THR toasts the brand leaders finding innovative ways to get their message across.”

Discover

Here Are the First Images of the Sun’s South Pole, a Completely New View in Our Solar System

Learn how the European Space Agency’s spacecraft captured a completely new view of the Sun, thanks to its novel tilted orbit.

Fast Company

‘This Was Peak Technology’: Gen Z Is Bringing Back the BlackBerry

Once the king of smartphones, the BlackBerry is making a nostalgic comeback as Gen Z embraces retro tech for digital detoxes and vintage vibes.

Martha Stewart

8 Beautiful Shrubs That Thrive on Neglect, According to Gardening Experts

Some plants need your full attention—others thrive on neglect. Here are eight shrubs that flourish when ignored, according to gardening experts.

NBC News

Harvard Gets New Legal Backing From 5 Ivies and Over 12,000 Alumni

Schools including Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania, and alumni including Conan O’Brien, filed new court documents to support Harvard’s legal battle.

Life Hacks

Tips for better living

Fast Company

10 Summer Reading Picks From Business and Financial Leaders

From modern classics to self-help, there’s something here for everyone.

The Cut

How to Make More Money Without Working Yourself Into the Ground

Realistic advice for increasing your income without overhauling your life.

The Conversation

You’re Probably Richer Than You Think Because of the Safety Net – but You’d Have More of That Hidden Wealth If You Lived in Norway

The typical worker on the verge of retirement is due roughly $412,000 in this under-the-radar wealth.

USA TODAY

Most Job Switchers Are Making a Change in Career: Top 5 Fields They’re Leaving

Nowadays, when Americans switch jobs, they’re not just making changes around the edges. Sixty-four percent of workers who switched jobs from 2022 to 2024 also changed careers, according to an Indeed study of 35 million profiles on the leading job site.

Fast Company

How Can I Delegate More?

If you want something done right, you don’t have to do it yourself. You just have to give someone else clear instructions.

NPR

Is All This Talk of Recession Indicators a Sign a Recession Is Coming?

For generations, people have looked for small, informal signs that a recession is coming or already here. This phenomenon recently exploded on social media, often in joke form.

Men's Health

How to Crawl to Get Stronger

These 6 variations from Superhero Shred trainer Don Saladino will hone your core stability and athleticism.

Harvard Business Review

When Help Isn’t Helpful

Nonspecific asks, a lack of accountability, and the potential of a charged aftermath.

Vox

We’re Secretly Winning the War on Cancer

The quiet revolutions that have prevented millions of cancer deaths.

Fast Company

Starbucks Is Hiring Full-Time Content Creators to Travel the World and Post on Social Media

Dream job for chronically online coffee lovers: Starbucks is hiring two full-time content creators for a 12-month gig posting content at Starbucks locations around the world.

BBC

The Everyday Activity That Can Reveal Your Brain’s Age

The speed at which you walk can reveal profound insights into your brain's rate of ageing – with slower walkers having smaller brains and fundamental differences in crucial structures.

USA TODAY

Can You Pass This Quiz on Social Security, Savings and Debt? Most Americans Could Not.

Overall, Americans got correct answers on just under half of the quiz questions.