Reading List

The most recent articles from a list of feeds I subscribe to.

You can’t really “train” your brain. Here’s what you can do instead.

A lot of people are looking for ways to improve, preserve, and prolong their brain’s health. Just look at the seemingly endless amount of self-help books, podcasts, phone apps, TikToks, and Instagram Reels dedicated to the subject. And, frankly, it makes sense. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia — conditions that fundamentally involve the loss of one’s […]

Pam Bondi’s ouster makes Trump’s Justice Department even more dangerous

Early in the first Trump administration, the legal journalist Benjamin Wittes coined one of the best descriptions of how President Donald Trump governs: “malevolence tempered by incompetence.” Trump, as Wittes originally wrote, often issued executive orders that were not vetted by lawyers or policy experts — and thus were vulnerable to lawsuits and often achieved […]

Why Trump betrayed MAGA, according to Tucker Carlson

After five weeks of muddled messaging, President Donald Trump finally addressed the nation on Wednesday night to make the case for his war on Iran. That message was…still muddled. He did not articulate a clear exit plan from the conflict, fobbed the Strait of Hormuz problem off on other countries, and denied that regime change […]

What to say to relatives who love to needle you about politics

As someone who has predominantly lived in liberal cities, I am largely surrounded by people who share my political views. Guns, no way. LGBTQ+ rights, yes, of course. Abortion, absolutely. Immigration, come on in.  But I also have relatives, most of whom I love and am deeply attached to, in red states, which means I’m […]

How a capybara took over the Scholastic Book Fair

This story originally appeared in Kids Today, Vox’s newsletter about kids, for everyone. Sign up here for future editions. The Scholastic Book Fair is a big deal at my older kid’s school. A couple of times a year, the auditorium gets transformed into a kid-friendly bookstore, and the elementary-schoolers get out of their regular classes to shop […]