Hi 👋 and welcome to the first issue of The Lazy Reader 🤓🎉

I opened 2024 with a promise to start reading more—and I thought I’d take you along with me.

Every week, I’ll bring you one long read: a sprawling, often-journalistic narrative that gripped me for the 30-some-odd minutes that I was reading it. I’ll also be sending a few other shorter stories that I found interesting throughout the week plus some news bits; just a quick rundown of the most important things happening around the world.

The Lazy Reader is a reflection of my own interests, so you can expect a lot of stories about science, history, the Media, video games, and crime (True Crime junkies, anyone?). Maybe a little bit of politics, business and tech, and travel, too, and a tiny smattering of sports and pop culture.

This is an accountability and a passion project for me. I want to see how well I can keep this up, and if it’s something that will resonate with a lot of people who, like me, want to rekindle their relationship with reading. Who knows—maybe we can all move up to books someday 🤞

The Lazy Reader will land in your inbox early on Sundays, just in time to keep your morning coffee (or tea, for those of us with caffeine-averse bodies) company ☕

One long read…

Let’s kick this entire thing off with some sharp, sleek writing from Kyle Chayka.

He makes an interesting argument in this essay: That social media is driving everyone, everywhere, all over the world, toward a certain aesthetic homogeneity. Just one general look and feel all across globe. The styles may change from decade to decade, but the sameness stays, well, the same. This is driven in no small part by Instagram and YouTube and TikTok, which push an increasingly singular vibe, convincing business owners the world over that their margins might be better if they just covered that one wall with plants, or if they just had that neon sign.

Kyle is a master writer. His sentences are rhythmic but confident and have a certain cadence that take you along. They never feel too long or too short, or that they ended too abruptly. His flow can make bulky, unwieldy words—“accoutrements,” “homogeneity,” “monopolisation of the internationalised digital space”—relax easily into his sentences without sounding forced. That’s talent.

I first found out about Kyle from this November 2016 interview by the Longform Podcast. Definitely give it a listen, too, if you have the time!

This one took me around 25 minutes to read, distractions included.

… and then some

🏳️‍🌈 A new study—published under the Science family of journals, no less—has found that genes linked to bisexual behavior in men may also make them more prone to taking risks. That is, bi men have more unprotected sex than gay men, which means that they also have more kids. Of course, the study has stirred up a lot of controversy. Critics have pointed out weaknesses in its methodology, while others have been more heated, saying that the findings could breed even more discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.

+ If you’re up for it, you can read the paper here. It calls the controversial risky sexual behaviors of bi men “reproductively advantageous.”

+ The evolutionary argument for bisexuality falls apart when applied to homosexuality. Or does it?

+ There’s also a 2019 study that identified genetic underpinnings of homosexual behavior. Paper here.

📀 In an indignant, semi-angsty essay for Slate, writer Scott Nover reveals that he’s been an OG reader of the soon-to-be-defunct Pitchfork, part of what he calls “a critical mass of dudes” who enjoyed the similarly mostly white, mostly male world of indie and alt rock. Music, admittedly, is not something I’m too interested in—or good at, for that matter—but it was clear even to me that Pitchfork had changed profoundly over the years. It became more diverse and irreverent—both of which do not make for a shining example of a Condé Nast publication.

+ Condé Nast is folding Pitchfork into GQ. Many have already been laid off.

+ In 2014 (10 years ago! 😱), long before BTS and Blackpink took over the world, Pitchfork ran their list of 20 essential K-pop songs. They really were ahead of the curve.

+ If we’re being topical, this falls somehow in line with all the Media lay-offs the past few weeks: The L.A. Times, Business Insider, Sports Illustrated, and many, many more. National Geographic earlier this month even let go of its last remaining staffers. 😔

🍷I’ll admit: I almost never think of a wine’s background and history when I’m having a glass (or half a bottle. No judgement). I probably should start, though, because who knew that there was this quiet women-led renaissance in the winemaking industry? Across some of the most well-known and esteemed wineries in the world, women are starting to not just claim leadership positions but also take their businesses into new, more sustainable—and of course, more profitable—heights. I only started drinking wine in the last couple of years, so I probably have women to thank for some of the most elegant and rich and balanced glasses that I’ve had.

+ If, like me, you enjoy wine for the buzz and not so much the flavors and aromas and mouthfeel, this guide really helped me pick out what I should be looking for in every sip.

+ Wine glasses, too, because apparently, it’s not a one-glass-fits-all type of thing. I used this article when I was first building out my home bar.

Around the world

Here are some of the most important/interesting/infuriating news bits from around the world this week:

1 - Musk has finally implanted a chip into a person’s brain, bringing humanity closer to… something. 🤷‍♂️

• Musk is actually playing catch-up to Synchron, which has stuck its device into 10 human brains so far.

• It’s been a long, rough road for Neuralink, including horrifying monkey studies, a federal investigation, and an FDA rejection.

• In other Musk news, a judge in Texas ruled that his $56 billion pay from Tesla is too much.

2 - Thailand has detained a progressive rock band known to be critical of Putin and might deport them back to Russia.

• They’re being held allegedly for not having the proper working papers, but it’s not like Thailand is such a bastion of free speech, anyway.

• Just last week, its Constitutional Court ruled that a campaign to change its draconic defamation law amounts to treason.

• The Russia-Ukraine conflict is hurtling toward its second anniversary but shows no signs of slowing down. 😔

• US hit record weapon sales last year.

3 - It seems that one of the very few things the U.S. and China can agree on is the need to stop the flow of fentanyl.

• Meanwhile, in the Philippines fentanyl has become a flashpoint between former political rivals Duterte and Marcos.

4 - A high court in India will decide (once and for all? Maybe?) who invented the world-famous butter chicken.

• Here’s a quick and good explainer from SCMP.

5 - Tobacco is yet again at the forefront of our culture and I hate it so much. What the hell is a Zyn and can we all just move on from it right away???

• It’s even become a political rallying cry in the U.S. I hate it here.

6 - There are pig cafés in Japan and it is the cutest thing ever!! It’s not a hopeless world yet, after all.

7 - Put down that anti-ageing cream because apparently the elixir of youth can be found in our immune system.

• If you’re so inclined, here’s the paper.

• The researchers are enthusiastic about their data—naturally—but ageing is such a complicated thing that it might yet take sooo much more work before anything concrete comes out of the study.

Thanks for reading! Please, please reach out if you have feedback, suggestions, or questions. I know some of the stories I recommend might be behind paywalls, and maybe I can help you with access to those, too!

Also, please feel free to share The Lazy Reader with friends or family who you think might want to join us in reading more.

Until next Sunday! 👋