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.
How does a person take smart risks? To start, mind the difference between recklessness and bravery, Arthur C. Brooks wrote in 2022. Free soloing a mountain with no climbing experience? Reckless. Confessing your love or going for that job you’ve always dreamed of? Brave.
The intelligent form of risk-taking can add joy to life. But Americans are also up against powerful forces that profit off of the reckless kind. When my colleague McKay Coppins set out to report on the explosive growth of the sports-betting industry, his editors thought that he should experience the phenomenon firsthand. He quickly discovered just how easy it is to fall into the compulsion and delusion of gambling. “As a society, we are making an enormously risky bet: that we can reap the rewards of a runaway gambling industry without paying any price,” he writes in our April cover story.
On Risk-Taking
The Magic of a Little Danger
By Arthur C. Brooks
To get happier, be brave, not reckless. (From 2022)
Sucker
By McKay Coppins
My year as a degenerate gambler
A Very Radical, Very Delicious Take on Risk Management
By Rachel Gutman-Wei
When times are dark, I lick the bowl. (From 2021)
Still Curious?
The worst advice parents can give first-year students: Today’s college students will have ample time to figure out their careers. Before that, encourage them to take risks, Ezekiel J. Emanuel argued in 2024.Inside the dangerous, secretive world of extreme fishing: In 2024, Tyler Austin Harper explained why he swims out into rough seas 80 nights a year to hunt for striped bass.
Other Diversions
How America learned to love Barnes & Noble againRaving at the end of the worldRaymond Chandler and the case of the split infinitive
PS
I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. “This hornet perched on a sunflower creates a sense of awe in me, “ Jenny R., 67, from Casper, Wyoming, writes.
I’ll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks.
— Isabel
From The Atlantic via this RSS feed