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Yahoo
7 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
The Challenges and Opportunities of Midlife
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. In a 2019 article, Arthur C. Brooks delivered some bad news: 'If your profession requires mental processing speed or significant analytic capabilities—the kind of profession most college graduates occupy—noticeable decline is probably going to set in earlier than you imagine.' How does a person manage professional decline when it comes for them—and, for that matter, the many other changes that midlife may bring? One idea that Brooks landed on in his research: a reverse bucket list. 'My goal for each year of the rest of my life should be to throw out things, obligations, and relationships until I can clearly see my refined self in its best form,' he writes. Today's newsletter explores the challenges and the opportunities of midlife. On Midlife Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think By Arthur C. Brooks Here's how to make the most of it. (From 2019) Read the article. The Real Roots of Midlife Crisis By Jonathan Rauch What a growing body of research reveals about the biology of human happiness—and how to navigate the (temporary) slump in middle age (From 2014) Read the article. The Two Choices That Keep a Midlife Crisis at Bay By Arthur C. Brooks Middle age is an opportunity to find transcendence. Read the article. Still Curious? Why making friends in midlife is so hard: 'I thought I was done dating. But after moving across the country, I had to start again—this time, in search of platonic love,' Katharine Smyth writes. How an 18th-century philosopher helped solve my midlife crisis: In 2006, I was 50—and I was falling apart,' Alison Gopnik writes. Other Diversions Alexandra Petri: So, what did I miss? Another side of modern fatherhood The cowardice of live-action remakes P.S. I asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. 'I recently returned to Badlands National Park with my now adult daughter,' Erick Wiger, 67, from Minneapolis, writes. 'It is a place of stark, and sometimes magical beauty.' I'll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks. If you'd like to share, reply to this email with a photo and a short description so we can share your wonder with fellow readers in a future edition of this newsletter or on our website. Please include your name (initials are okay), age, and location. By doing so, you agree that The Atlantic has permission to publish your photo and publicly attribute the response to you, including your first name and last initial, age, and/or location that you share with your submission. — Isabel Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
7 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Atlantic
The Challenges and Opportunities of Midlife
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. In a 2019 article, Arthur C. Brooks delivered some bad news: 'If your profession requires mental processing speed or significant analytic capabilities—the kind of profession most college graduates occupy—noticeable decline is probably going to set in earlier than you imagine.' How does a person manage professional decline when it comes for them—and, for that matter, the many other changes that midlife may bring? One idea that Brooks landed on in his research: a reverse bucket list. 'My goal for each year of the rest of my life should be to throw out things, obligations, and relationships until I can clearly see my refined self in its best form,' he writes. Today's newsletter explores the challenges and the opportunities of midlife. On Midlife Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think By Arthur C. Brooks Here's how to make the most of it. (From 2019) Read the article. The Real Roots of Midlife Crisis By Jonathan Rauch What a growing body of research reveals about the biology of human happiness—and how to navigate the (temporary) slump in middle age (From 2014) Read the article. The Two Choices That Keep a Midlife Crisis at Bay By Arthur C. Brooks Middle age is an opportunity to find transcendence. Still Curious? Why making friends in midlife is so hard: 'I thought I was done dating. But after moving across the country, I had to start again—this time, in search of platonic love,' Katharine Smyth writes. How an 18th-century philosopher helped solve my midlife crisis: In 2006, I was 50—and I was falling apart,' Alison Gopnik writes. Other Diversions P.S. I asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. 'I recently returned to Badlands National Park with my now adult daughter,' Erick Wiger, 67, from Minneapolis, writes. 'It is a place of stark, and sometimes magical beauty.' I'll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks. If you'd like to share, reply to this email with a photo and a short description so we can share your wonder with fellow readers in a future edition of this newsletter or on our website. Please include your name (initials are okay), age, and location. By doing so, you agree that The Atlantic has permission to publish your photo and publicly attribute the response to you, including your first name and last initial, age, and/or location that you share with your submission.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
How Air-Conditioning Built Our Reality
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. Before the air conditioner was invented, human beings were at a loss for how to cool themselves. Some of the ideas were arguably doomed from the start: In the 19th century, as Derek Thompson noted in a 2017 article, New England companies shipped huge ice cubes insulated with sawdust around the country. 'There were even shortages during mild winters—'ice famines,'' he wrote. The air conditioner was not only a brilliant innovation; it changed the course of human life. In the U.S., it allowed people to migrate to the Sun Belt, to Atlanta and Phoenix, altering the country's demographics and politics. Globally, it allowed people in countries with excruciating heat to work more, leading to new sites of productivity and wealth. Today's newsletter explores how the air conditioner has already shaped our world, and how it continues to change our lives for better and for worse. On Air-Conditioning Your Air Conditioner Is Lying to You By Daniel Engber How does money-saver mode make sense? Read the article. How Air-Conditioning Invented the Modern World By Derek Thompson A new book by the economist Tim Harford on history's greatest breakthroughs explains why barbed wire was a revolution, paper money was an accident, and HVACs were a productivity booster. (From 2017) Read the article. The Moral History of Air-Conditioning By Shane Cashman Cooling the air was once seen as sinful. Maybe the idea wasn't entirely wrong. An Object Lesson. Read the article. Still Curious? America the air-conditioned: Cooling technology has become an American necessity—but an expensive one, Lora Kelley wrote last year. America's doublethink on working through the heat: Heat can be deadly; no federal rules currently exist to protect workers against that danger, Zoë Schlanger wrote last year. Other Diversions What the fastest-growing Christian group reveals about America Why Wittgenstein was right about silence 'What Hula taught me' P.S. I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. Diego Gutierrez, 63, sent a photo of Mohonk Preserve in New York. I'll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks. — Isabel Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
07-06-2025
- General
- Atlantic
How Air-Conditioning Built Our Reality
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. Before the air conditioner was invented, human beings were at a loss for how to cool themselves. Some of the ideas were arguably doomed from the start: In the 19th century, as Derek Thompson noted in a 2017 article, New England companies shipped huge ice cubes insulated with sawdust around the country. 'There were even shortages during mild winters—'ice famines,'' he wrote. The air conditioner was not only a brilliant innovation; it changed the course of human life. In the U.S., it allowed people to migrate to the Sun Belt, to Atlanta and Phoenix, altering the country's demographics and politics. Globally, it allowed people in countries with excruciating heat to work more, leading to new sites of productivity and wealth. Today's newsletter explores how the air conditioner has already shaped our world, and how it continues to change our lives for better and for worse. On Air-Conditioning Your Air Conditioner Is Lying to You By Daniel Engber How does money-saver mode make sense? Read the article. How Air-Conditioning Invented the Modern World By Derek Thompson A new book by the economist Tim Harford on history's greatest breakthroughs explains why barbed wire was a revolution, paper money was an accident, and HVACs were a productivity booster. (From 2017) Read the article. The Moral History of Air-Conditioning By Shane Cashman Cooling the air was once seen as sinful. Maybe the idea wasn't entirely wrong. An Object Lesson. Still Curious? America the air-conditioned: Cooling technology has become an American necessity—but an expensive one, Lora Kelley wrote last year. America's doublethink on working through the heat: Heat can be deadly; no federal rules currently exist to protect workers against that danger, Zoë Schlanger wrote last year. Other Diversions P.S. I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. Diego Gutierrez, 63, sent a photo of Mohonk Preserve in New York.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
When College Graduates Face Reality
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. 'History found you.' In 2020, Caitlin Flanagan told recent college graduates that their dreams were interrupted in much the same way her father's dreams had once been interrupted. In 1941, he was a new student at Amherst College, 'and he thought it was paradise,' Caitlin wrote. Then the Pearl Harbor bombing happened, and he and his college peers enlisted in the Army the very next day. History found both of these generations and left them with a whole lot of plans deferred, but perhaps also something great—'As very young people you know something powerful: that you have been tested, and you did not falter,' Caitlin wrote. 'You kept going.' Caitlin's essay is one of a series of commencement speeches The Atlantic commissioned in 2020 for students who would not be able to attend their graduation. In them, writers spoke to young people growing up in the shadow of loss, who were watching as humanity as a whole was tested. While 2025 isn't the same topsy-turvy reality as 2020, students still face a core uncertainty about what comes next. Below is a collection of honest, not-always-rosy, but often hopeful advice for the graduate in your life. On Graduating You Thought You Were Free, but History Found You By Caitlin Flanagan The 2020 commencement speech you'll never hear Read the article. I Didn't Get to Graduate Either By Bridget Phetasy In May 1998, I should have been finishing my first year at an Ivy League college. Instead, I was in a state-funded halfway house in Minneapolis trying to recover from a heroin addiction. Read the article. A Commencement Address Too Honest to Deliver in Person By David Brooks I couldn't say these things during a traditional ceremony, but these aren't traditional times. Read the article. Still Curious? 'I didn't have any graduation wisdom. So I asked 19 smart people instead.' Joe Pinsker relayed what a novelist, a therapist, a Buddhist teacher, and others had to say to the class of 2020. The long goodbye to college: Any recent graduate will tell you that their head felt heaviest after the cap came off, Amogh Dimri writes. Other Diversions The Nobel Prize winner who thinks we have the universe all wrong How to look at Paul Gauguin The curse of Ayn Rand's heir P.S. I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. 'Sunrise symmetry: a reminder of the order that exists in this chaotic world,' Courtney C., 74 , from Bermuda Run, North Carolina, writes. I'll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks. — Isabel Article originally published at The Atlantic
