~hackernews | Bookmarks (31)
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What Phones Are Doing to Reading
For the past five years or so, I’ve read books on my phone. The practice started...
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The Art of Decision-Making
In July of 1838, Charles Darwin was twenty-nine years old and single. Two years earlier, he...
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A Helicopter Crash Nearly Killed Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos in 2003
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was scouting for a large Texas ranch to buy in March 2003.The...
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Houdini and the Art of Escape (2020)
In 1908, Harry Houdini—“The World’s Handcuff King and Prison Breaker”—needed a new act. He was thirty-four...
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Jazz Legend Is His Own Work in Progress
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The Atlantic's great American novels of the last 100 years
In 1868, a little-known writer by the name of John William DeForest proposed a new type...
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The Deep Sea Is Filled with Treasure, but It Comes at a Price
The International Seabed Authority is headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica, in a building that looks a bit...
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What It's Like to Be a Sociopath
Sociopaths are modern-day boogeymen, and the word “sociopath” is casually tossed around to describe the worst,...
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Before He Was George Orwell, He Was Eric Blair, Police Officer
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Elon Musk's Twitter Ultimatum Brought Employees to Their Breaking Point
The targeted firings of talented engineers tanked employee morale. Randall Lin worried the dour mood would...
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How We Crowdfunded $750k for a Giant Book about Keyboard History
Thus it made perfect sense that on a vacation day during a work trip in 2016,...
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A Man Who Coined the Word "Robot" Defends Himself
You’re familiar with Karel Čapek, right? If not, you should be—he’s the guy who (along with...
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Narcotopia by Patrick Winn, review: a thorn in China's side
Here’s a book that offers recreational drug users the rare treat of feeling a little virtuous....