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Hi 👋 

Welcome back to The Lazy Reader, where we read some of the best pieces of longform journalism from across the Web ✨

Had a good reading week last week. It helps that I finished another banger of a book and so to help me get over that (and to stop myself from falling into a slump), I turned to longform articles.

I’m currently in the process of reading through a very meaty, very gripping series. If things turn out well (fingers crossed!), you’ll have that coming your way in next week’s newsletter. Just something to look forward to.

In any case, if you missed last week’s email, feel free to head on over here. Otherwise, here are some choice picks:

• Cruelty to cows.

• The rise and fall of jailhouse stars.

• An especially egregious case of police brutality.

As always, please let me know what you think of the list this week by voting in the poll below.

Happy reading and see you again next Monday!

PS - Thanks again to 1440 Media for supporting this week’s newsletter. Clicking their ad link (in the banner above or after the fold below) is a really easy and free way to help me out. Thanks in advance!

Story in Spotlight

If the title didn’t give it away yet, this is a very heavy story with heavy and unapologetic descriptions of violence. It’s painful and heartbreaking. Of all the stories I’ve shared on TLR so far, this one was the most difficult to read. More times than I cared to count, I had to put this down and step away to breathe so as not to lose my composure.

Please, please keep that in mind if you decide to read this.

There is a strong case to be made that this shooting (and the bombing before it) is the worst crime in Norway’s modern history. And there are many sad and infuriating layers here. One that particularly sticks out to me is how utterly unprepared law enforcement was. Sure, these types of crimes don’t happen there, but still. This story didn’t even focus that much on their blunders, but it was still very apparent.

Then there’s also the question of the gunman’s motivation, which was very clearly ideologic and political in nature. He was xenophobic and racist, and he was an extreme right-winger who believed that the world owed him everything. He was a loser who couldn’t keep up with the times and who couldn’t accept the fact that he was a loser.

What’s worrying is that we’re seeing this archetype more and more these days. And they’re being emboldened by other losers they meet on the internet. And it’s much easier to get access to weapons. And police—despite skyrocketing budgets—are less and less reliable. Times are scary out here.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you find yourselves on the opposite side, ideologically, with these guys (and I hope you do), please do take care. Not to be alarmist or to freak you out—but just take care.

Very long, very difficult. I’d say the reading itself can run for just 50 ish minutes, maybe an hour. But with all the breaks, I took over 2 hours to finish this one.

The Longform List

Alone with the Strangler | Vanity Fair, $

Cookie-cutter crime story but done really, really well. And written at a time when True Crime as a genre didn’t yet exist, and so I imagine that there weren’t a lot out there to pattern after. And yet this is one of the most effective crime pieces I’ve read in a while.

It stands out in large part because it’s written as a memoir (this is an excerpt from a book I’ve yet to read but I’m sure is excellent), making it instantly feel a lot more personal than other serial killer stories. There’s also a lot of tension here, and the writer makes magic out of the fact that they were such close observers to what is one of the U.S.’s most notorious murderers.

Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? | The Washington Post, $

This is a really heartbreaking and—because I have a niece and nephew who I really love—extremely terrifying story. The writer anticipates his readers very well. Nearly perfectly, every time I find myself thinking “this could never happen to us,” the story makes the (correct and scary) point that No. This could definitely happen to you. Don’t get complacent. Thanks, Mr. Gene Weingarten, for ruining my sleep for days.

Another quick point: I really liked how he interviewed many different people from different backgrounds with different personalities. Aside from driving home the point, it also gave the story a lot of color.

They Were ‘Calling to Help.’ Then They Stole Thousands | WIRED, $

Also really, incredibly scary. Aside from the adorable kids in my life, I also have two wonderful parents who are getting up there in age and are, like everyone else, getting less and less in harmony with technology. I fear for them all the time—for their health and safety, yes, but also because schemes like these exist and these cruel scammers prey on the most vulnerable.

Unmasking the Sea Star Killer | bioGraphic, Free

For those who don’t know, Hakai Magazine got folded into bioGraphic at the start of the year. It obviously sucks that science journalism isn’t sustainable enough to keep a dynamic ecosystem going, but at least we get stellar pieces such as this.

There has apparently been an apocalyptic die-off of sea stars all over the world. I never realized because I don’t live in a coastal community—but as this story shows, its effects have been disastrous for those who rely on the marine ecosystem for their livelihoods. And on the other end of this problem is a small but dedicated and resourceful community of sea star scientists trying to turn the catastrophe around.

Really fun and compelling story. Solid piece of science writing.

A Massive Fraud Ring Is Publishing Thousands of Fake Studies and the Problem is Exploding. “These Networks Are Essentially Criminal Organizations” | ZME Science, Free

Short one here, but arguably the most timely and relevant out of all the stories on this week’s list. There is a massive resurgence in anti-science ideology these days, and while there are many valid and thoughtful ways to criticize the entire enterprise, the current environment applies none of those. Instead, people resort to just wholesale denialism or, as this story outlines, borderline-fraud operations.

(I will say that science as a field has grown shamefully complacent and commodified over the last few decades, which made it so easy to exploit.)

The King of Con-Men | The Economist, $

Conmen have existed as early as investors and speculators have. I’m being biased here, as I’m generally averse to that type of person, but it was a bit funny for me to read this class of self-proclaimed educated and sophisticated men get swindled by what was obviously a too-good-to-be-true scheme. Makes you wonder about the current-day capitalist class, no?

How Many Murders can a Police Informer Get Away With? | The Guardian, $

Won’t lie: The title of this piece sets high expectations for the rest of the story that, in my opinion, falls flat. The most shocking and compelling details are in the opening grafs, and the excitement goes on a steady downward spin from there. The story at some point dives way too deep into the history of using criminal informants, which… why?

The story picks up again somewhat toward the middle, with the writer showing the sheer scale of embedded informants (and how this itself facilitates a staggering degree of lawlessness), but overall this one was slow. I do think the premise alone is enough to put it on this list. Why has law enforcement gotten so reliant on criminal informants, and what risks does this expose us to?

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ALSO: I know some of the stories I recommend might be behind paywalls, and maybe I can help you with access to those. Send me a message and let’s see what we can do 😊

Until next Monday! 👋