Always here for a good audiobook recommendation.
The Best Audiobooks of 2026 (So Far)
The year is nearly halfway over. Hereâs what weâve been listening to.
nytimes.com
@Renee
I write about baseball â mostly the Colorado Rockies. (Fandom is weird.) In addition, Iâm a professor of English and a lifelong reader always looking for the next great story.
rockiespitch.comHas favorites â 23 sources in 90 days
Also a writer â 1 original piece this quarter
Always here for a good audiobook recommendation.
The Best Audiobooks of 2026 (So Far)
The year is nearly halfway over. Hereâs what weâve been listening to.
nytimes.com
Never change, baseball.
The strange history of baseballâs superstitions: âMagic is in the sportâs very structureâ
A new book looks at how rituals, charms and curses are central to the identity of Americaâs pastime
theguardian.com
I am not sure gift links work here, so Iâve followed up with a regular link.
Shohei Ohtani Is Illogical | Defector
Before this season, pitching was pretty clearly Shohei Ohtaniâs secondary talent, and thatâs not an insult. He was just âalso a pitcherâ in the same way that Lady Gaga is also an actress or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is also a writer. In his first two seasons as a Dodger, Ohtani only pitched a total of 47âŠ
defector.com
Ohtani is amazing by any standard. Gift link.
defector.com
This looks really interesting.
Tribeca 2026 Review: Questloveâs âEarth, Wind & Fireâ Doc Explores the Complexity of Maurice White  | Black Girl Nerds
Questloveâs Tribeca 2026 documentary explores the life and legacy of Maurice White, revealing the creative genius, ambition, and more
blackgirlnerds.com
Iâm a big fan of music oral histories.
The Inside Story of the Athens Music Scene
How did the college football town spawn the B-52s, R.E.M., and Widespread Panic, to name just a few? The maestros and misfits who led Athensâs rise to one of the world's most influential and improbable music towns tell all
gardenandgun.com
No one is better at describing this than Mike Masnick.
Enshittification, Despotification, and the Open Internet
Itâs not about whether technology is inherently good or bad, liberating or oppressive. Architecture shapes incentives; incentives shape outcomes.
liberalism.org
Thereâs a lot here.
The Inconvenient Village
We all want community, until we actually have to be a neighbor.
karengonzalez.substack.com
Whereâs the congressman? Even The Times canât find him.
A Congressman Was Suddenly Absent. So We Looked. And Looked.
Will the mystery of Tom Kean Jr., a New Jersey representative, finally be solved on Tuesday? The reporters covering the story will have questions.
nytimes.com
When politicians say they want to sell public lands to build âhousing,â this is what they really mean.
Trump officials, billionaires and the quiet reshaping of America's public lands - WyoFile
A controversial land swap orchestrated by the megarich could be âa harbinger of whatâs to comeâ for public lands under Trump.
wyofile.com
Some Sandra Cisneros poetry for your afternoon.
âHow to Grow Oldâ
âDonât fret about / the champagne-glass / neck. / Drink champagne.â
newyorker.com
I have always wondered about this process.
Bringing a Giant Canvas Back to Life, as Museum Visitors Watch
The MusĂ©e dâOrsay demystified art conservation by turning the meticulous, yearlong restoration of a 22-foot Gustave Courbet painting into a public event.
nytimes.com
So many great choices here!
Itâs summertime, and the readinâ is easy. Fortunately, so is finding an interesting title.
Colorado authors have suggestions for ways to fill the blissful hours with a book. They range from the conventional to the experimental.
coloradosun.com
Some thoughts on designing book covers.
Cover Design from Hardcover to Paperback (with an Italian Twist)
Q&A with author Jessica Berger Gross about the covers for 'Hazel Says No'
substack.com
The world has so many mysteries.
Millions of Bees Have Thrived Under a New York Cemetery for More Than a Century
A walk in the cemetery led to Cornell researchers discovering an underground colony of bees with an estimated population of 5.5 millionâone of the largest ever recorded.
wired.com
I enjoyed *Hacks*. But I also respect a show that knows when to make an exit.
In âHacks,â Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder Gave Us an Odd Couple for the Ages
The unlikely bond between Jean Smartâs and Hannah Einbinderâs characters in âHacksâ led the show to a standing ovation of a final season.
newyorker.com
For myself, Iâve gone to Kagi. But this move by Google is a significant problem for everyone.
Client Challenge
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sfgate.com
I thought this was interesting.
A Difficult Groove
Archivist Andy Lanset on the long struggle to gather and edit radio "field tape" before tape existed. It required thousands of pounds of equipment, a lot of money, and incredible patience.
continuous-wave.beehiiv.com
This is discouraging.
Why that hotly-tipped band you love might not be touring this year
Rising Canadian prog duo Crown Lands won
flip.it
This one made me think.
Our Longing for Inconvenience
People are pining for old technologiesâCD players, VCRs, Walkmans. Whatâs behind our longing for inconvenience?
newyorker.com
Finally, some good news!
Solar will be largest power generator in "much changed" world by 2032, but battery storage is the big mover
BNEF's latest annual New Energy Outlook details a "much changed" global market, spurred by energy security and huge uptake of cheap solar and batteries.
reneweconomy.com.au
This oneâs from me. I wrote about the Rockies purple home run coat.
Tuesday Rockpile: The Rockies and the amazing purple-colored home run coat
Colorado Rockies news and links for Tuesday, May 26, 2026
purplerow.com
Joey Votto is the best.
Joey Vottoâs post-retirement life: Sushi chef, yoga instructor, world traveler
Votto has traveled extensively since retiring in 2024, and while he's embraced new experiences, he still has plenty to say about baseball.
nytimes.com
Joshua Rothman on being âordinary.â
Why Is It So Hard to Be Ordinary?
Weâve been trained to strive for greatness at all times. Is there a positive case for being ordinary?
newyorker.com
An easier way to begin a garden.
Grab Some Seeds. Throw Them at the Soil. Youâre a Gardener Now.
Welcome to chaos gardening, a laid-back way to turn a patch of ground into a riot of color.
nytimes.com
Sean Trende writes about his son.
realclearpolitics.com
Paul Bloom connects selling a book to *Moneyball*.
Moneyball for book publishers and Substack writers
Why it will never work
smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net
The tacoâs [sic] joke among Rockies fans is long-running. Ben Clemens has missed that layer to it. Still, lots of good stuff here.
Five Things I Liked (Or Didnât Like) This Week, May 22
High-scoring games, inside-the-park homers, and even some crafty veterans.
blogs.fangraphs.com
Some flash nonfiction for your Saturday.
Somewhere on a city street | Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction
three pink roses sit out on a peeling window sill. No bigger than the tip of my thumb, theyâre tucked in tiny thimbles of water. Itâs a day when we walk back slowly from the community center, late summer heat, a strange, sticky silence on the streets. It starts to rain, not quite drops, but the airâs so humid something has to fall. My little sobrinaâwhoâs not really, but she calls me tiĂĄ because, she says, âestĂĄs aquiââsniffs the petals, just at her eye level. She touches each one with curious 4
brevitymag.com
Jessica Winter reviews the receipts Belle Burden alludes to in *Strangers*.
Whatâs Missing from Belle Burdenâs Best-Selling Memoir, âStrangersâ
Belle Burdenâs âStrangers: A Memoir of Marriageâ tells the story of her divorce and resulting financial imperilment. A review of court documents complicates her narrative.
newyorker.com
Always read Howard Bryant.
The NAACPâs boycott call is a wake-up moment for the American Black athlete | Howard Bryant
In a country where their rights are being attacked from all sides, itâs time for Black college athletes to utilize their power
theguardian.com
James Poniewozikâs review of the final Stephen Colbert *Late Show*. Gift link.
Stephen Colbertâs Last Show: Laughing Well Is the Best Revenge
The âLate Showâ cancellation was a disappointment. But a surreally lovely final episode turned it into a cancellebration.
nytimes.com
The growing localization of digital technology.
The EU Is Going Through a Trump-Fueled Breakup With Big Tech
France is already moving on from Zoom and Microsoft Teams in favor of homegrown alternatives. Other countries are quickly following suit.
wired.com
For those of you who enjoy vinyl.
My Mother-in-Lawâs Records
My current vinyl collection comprises 52 albums that belonged to my late mother-in-law and most of it sucks. âSucksâ is too harsh. It includes a smattering of classical and opera, a few out-and-out duds (Andy Williams), and quite a bit of Broadway, a genre I love, although not as indiscriminately as my mother-in-law. (Lâil Abner? WTF, Dorothy?) I donât own a turntable, but in late 2020 my ex-husband decided these records should reside with me and so they reside with me. I loved my mother-in-law
ihavethatonvinyl.com
A review of Zayd Ayers Dohrnâs memoir.
A Searing Memoir of Being Raised by Radicals on the Run
Zayd Ayers Dohrnâs parents were leaders of the Weather Underground. His new book traces how their revolutionary ideals collided with their family life.
nytimes.com
The author discusses popular creativity books with a focus on writing.
Why the Best Writing Advice Is Often the Weirdest
Writers are fed a bevy of mantrasââshow donât tell,â âkill your darlingsââwhich provide the security that there are rules, but little else. A new book by Lucy Ives offers a more expansive view of writing advice.
newyorker.com
The story of what happened to an attempt to make tax filing easier and much cheaper. Gift link
Free, Easy, Dead: The Difficult Birth And Predictable Death Of IRS Direct File | Defector
Like the universe itself, the United States tax code is ever-expanding, and no one can claim to know its exact size. There are statutes enacted by Congress; implementing regulations issued by the Treasury Department; rules from the Internal Revenue Service explaining how other rules apply to specific circumstances; and a patchwork of court decisions thatâŠ
defector.com
Iâll inject some sports into the conversation. My Purple Row colleague Skyler Timmins wrote this one, and I think it speaks to the tedium of rebuilding pretty much anything, not just a sports franchise. (I also think there is too little understanding that building things takes time. AI will exacerbate this problem, I fear.)
Wednesday Rockpile: The Beautiful, Blessed Boredom of the 2026 Colorado Rockies
Colorado Rockies news and links for Wednesday, May 20, 2026
purplerow.com
My first Seabird post. I thought Iâd start with a classic that I used in a composition course last year. Even though the math has changed, it holds up, I think.
eleanorfarnsworth.com