The Electric Typewriter

30 Great Nonfiction Writers

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:08:33 +0200

(links to over 500 great articles and essays)

We’ve scoured the internet to bring you the very best of our favourite authors. Click through for great article and essays by:

Mark Bowden, Po Bronson, Michael Chabon, Tom Chiarella, Jared Diamond, Joan Didion, Michael Finkel, David Foster Wallace, Devin Friedman, Atul Gawande, Elizabeth Gilbert, Malcolm Gladwell, Paul Graham, Mark Jacobson, Tom Junod, Walter Kirn, Chuck Klosterman, William Langewiesche, Jeanne Marie Laskas, Michael Lewis, Susan Orlean, Michael Paterniti, Venkat Rao, David Sedaris, Zadie Smith, John J. Sullivan, Matt Taibbi, Hunter S. Thompson, Gary Wolf, Tom Wolfe, Gene Weingarten, and Lindy West.

Wikipedia’s Sexism

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:43:49 +0200

Wikipedia’s Sexism:

by Amanda Filipachi

Early last week I noticed something strange on Wikipedia…

The Telephone

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 20:34:48 +0200

The Telephone:

A Tetw reading list

Don’t Call Me, I Won’t Call You by Pamela Paul - Nobody calls me anymore — and that’s just fine.

Dearly Disconnected by Ian Frazier - We cursed and abused them, and now many of us do without them. A tribute to the payphone, a vanishing icon.

The End of the Hangup by Ian Bogost - How smartphones make hanging up impossible.

Can Cellphones End Poverty? by Sara Corbett - For people living in the poorest places in Africa and beyond the possibilities afforded by cellphones are revolutionary.

Secrets of the Little Blue Box by Ron Rosenbaum - The golden age of telephone hacking.

The Cigarette of This Century

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 20:28:31 +0200

The Cigarette of This Century:

How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 18:00:31 +0200

How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America:

by Kiese Laymon

I’m a walking regret, a truth-teller, a liar, a survivor, a frowning ellipsis, a witness, a dreamer, a teacher, a student, a joker, a writer whose eyes stay red, and I’m a child of this nation.

Vehicular Manslaughter

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 17:57:07 +0200

Vehicular Manslaughter:

How Not to Commit Suicide

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:19:16 +0200

How Not to Commit Suicide:

Resurrection, the voyage to the land of the dead and back again, is common enough in old legends and in the experiences of people who live through a near-terminal illness or accident. But that journey is also made daily in hospital emergency rooms.

The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:11:32 +0200

The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death:

by Peter Stark

An hour passes. at one point, a stray thought says you should start being scared, but fear is a concept that floats somewhere beyond your immediate reach, like that numb hand lying naked in the snow.

Hail the Returning Dragon, Clothed in New Fire

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 20:20:14 +0200

Hail the Returning Dragon, Clothed in New Fire:

by David Foster Wallace

You know this love story. A gallant knight espies a fair maiden in the distant window of a forbidding-type castle. Their eyes meet - smokily - across the withered heath. Instant chemistry. And so good Sir Knight comes tear-assing toward the castle, brandishing his lance. Can he just gallop up and carry the fair maiden off? Not quite. First he’s got to get past the dragon, right?

Feel Like Fakin' Love

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:40:27 +0200

Feel Like Fakin' Love:

by Jim Behrle

It’s common knowledge—or at least a tired Sex and the City cliché—that women sometimes fake orgasms. But here’s the thing: men bluff their way to the finish line, too. Jim Behrle explains why it’s A-OK for guys to indulge in some between-the-sheets theatrics…

25 Great Articles about Animals

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 20:20:00 +0200

25 Great Articles about Animals:

A Tetw reading list

The net’s best writing about our realtionship with animals.

Heart of Sharkness

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:40:32 +0200

Heart of Sharkness:

by Bucky McMahon

It was a show of unprecedented aggression in a surfers’ paradise: ten shark attacks in the past two years, three of them fatal. Now the surfers are biting back…

Computer Games

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:20:29 +0200

Computer Games:

A Tetw reading list

Video Games: The Addiction by Tom Bissell - A classic personal essay about the irresistible lure of the joypad.

Spacewar by Stewart Brand< - How one of the first video games was instrumental in the development of computer technology.

The Curse of Cow Clicker by Jason Tanz - The twisted world of social gaming and how a satirical Facebook game became a hit.

The Economics of Video Games by Brad Plumer - It takes a certain type of economist to know what to do when a belligerent spaceship fleet attacks an interstellar trading post, causing mineral prices to surge across the galaxy.

The Life of the Chinese Gold Farmer by Julian Dibbell - What happens when game economies spill over into reality?

Working for the Man by Steven Poole - Are video games really a leisure activity? Or are they work?

Master of Play by Nick Paumgarten - A reporter travels to Japan to meet the creative force behind Nintendo, the man who’s shaped imaginary worlds that are explored by millions.

The Tetris Effect

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 19:40:22 +0200

The Tetris Effect:

by Justin Wolfe

When she read the note, my mother wasn’t too worried, but she told me that maybe for a while I should try writing and drawing and talking about some different things at school, because then my teacher would be less concerned and also because, of course, there were other things in the world besides video games.

Oil

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:20:32 +0200

Oil:

A Tetw reading list

Blood Oil by Sebastian Junger - Could a bunch of men in speedboats bring about a U.S. recession? Deep in the Niger-delta, the author meets the nightmarish result of decades of corruption.

The Incredible Half-Billion-Dollar Oil Swindle by Peter Elkind - How some of the world’s top investors got burned in Azerbaijan.

The Oil We Eat by Richard Manning - Why the US food industry uses about ten calories of fossil-fuel energy for every calorie of food energy it produces.

Jungle Law by William Langewiesche - A journalist journeys into the Amazon to find out how many hundreds of square miles of surrounding rain forest became a toxic-waste dump.

Empire of Ice by Jeanne Marie Laskas - Up close and personal with the men that keep Alaska’s oil flowing.

The New Old Economy by Jonathan Rauch - Why knowledge, not petroleum, is the critical resource in the oil business.

What If We Never Run Out of Oil?

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 19:40:33 +0200

What If We Never Run Out of Oil?:

by Charles C. Mann

New technology and a little-known energy source suggest that fossil fuels may not be finite. A miracle—and a nightmare.

Stanley Kubrick in 1987

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 20:20:30 +0200

Stanley Kubrick in 1987:

An interview by Tim Cahill

I’m not going to be asked any conceptualizing questions, right?

Citizen Kubrick

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 19:40:30 +0200

Citizen Kubrick:

by Jon Ronson

Stanley Kubrick’s films were landmark events - majestic, memorable and richly researched. But, as the years went by, the time between films grew longer and longer, and less and less was seen of the director. What on earth was he doing? Two years after his death, Jon Ronson was invited to the Kubrick estate and let loose among the fabled archive. He was looking for a solution to the mystery - this is what he found.

How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 20:20:25 +0200

How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy:

by Kathleen McAuliffe

Could tiny organisms carried by house cats be creeping into our brains, causing everything from car wrecks to schizophrenia?

Schizophrenic. Killer. My Cousin.

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 19:40:28 +0200

Schizophrenic. Killer. My Cousin.:

by Mac McClelland

It’s insanity to kill your father with a kitchen knife. It’s also insanity to close hospitals, fire therapists, and leave families to face mental illness on their own.