Thought-provoking email newsletters for the inquisitive?
July 27, 2018 9:04 AM Subscribe
I was hopeful some of you would be able to suggest some good old fashioned email newsletters to feed my curiosity.
Having abandoned all my social media accounts out of disgust, I find myself missing the thoughtful, engaging content I had managed to sift out. My RSS reader is full of satisfying feeds, I'm drowning in podcasts, and of course there's always Metafilter, yet I still want more...
Ideally, the newsletter would be fairly wide-ranging in topics, but I'm open to those specialized in a topic as well if they're exceptional.
Subjects I especially like are history, philosophy, literature, music, visual arts & photography... but I also get a kick out of reading things I know very little about.
Having abandoned all my social media accounts out of disgust, I find myself missing the thoughtful, engaging content I had managed to sift out. My RSS reader is full of satisfying feeds, I'm drowning in podcasts, and of course there's always Metafilter, yet I still want more...
Ideally, the newsletter would be fairly wide-ranging in topics, but I'm open to those specialized in a topic as well if they're exceptional.
Subjects I especially like are history, philosophy, literature, music, visual arts & photography... but I also get a kick out of reading things I know very little about.
I enjoy Dave Pell's Next Draft and Kottke's newsletter. Quartz's Obsessions is good too. (Sign up alllll the way at the bottom.) Tedium produces some really great and fascinating reads.
posted by veggieboy at 9:09 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by veggieboy at 9:09 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
The Shatner Chatner is the best newsletter.
posted by General Malaise at 9:11 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by General Malaise at 9:11 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Anu Garg's A Word A Day. Example from yesterday. I really look forward to it hitting my inbox.
posted by humph at 9:22 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by humph at 9:22 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
One can receive jessamyn's very informative TILT (Today in Library Tabs, I think) as a newsletter. Or read them on Medium.
posted by terrapin at 9:28 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by terrapin at 9:28 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Brain Pickings is a newsletter full of poetry, philosophy, literature and a bit of science. The author takes inspiration on a particular theme and illuminates it using passages from some of the best thinkers on that subject. It's very inspiring and what not.
posted by winterportage at 9:33 AM on July 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by winterportage at 9:33 AM on July 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Came in to recommend Brain Pickings but winterportage beat me to it.
I also read Lenny to see what the millennials are up to. The focus is on stories by and about women.
posted by tuesdayschild at 9:53 AM on July 27, 2018
I also read Lenny to see what the millennials are up to. The focus is on stories by and about women.
posted by tuesdayschild at 9:53 AM on July 27, 2018
Seconding Now I Know and NextDraft.
I would also suggest Micah Mattix's Prufrock for humanities and culture stuff. It's hosted by the Weekly Standard, but don't let that scare you aware. It leans rightward, but in a William F. Buckley way, not a Trumpy or Paul Ryan way. For the most part, the content isn't political; the links are to things like the NYRB or the TLS. It's basically the email newsletter equivalent of Arts & Letters Daily. Mattix is an English professor, and they content is more heavily focused on 20th-century poetry (shocking, given the name) than most general-interest outlets. The archives are online, if you'd like to check it out. Subscribe here.
posted by kevinbelt at 9:53 AM on July 27, 2018
I would also suggest Micah Mattix's Prufrock for humanities and culture stuff. It's hosted by the Weekly Standard, but don't let that scare you aware. It leans rightward, but in a William F. Buckley way, not a Trumpy or Paul Ryan way. For the most part, the content isn't political; the links are to things like the NYRB or the TLS. It's basically the email newsletter equivalent of Arts & Letters Daily. Mattix is an English professor, and they content is more heavily focused on 20th-century poetry (shocking, given the name) than most general-interest outlets. The archives are online, if you'd like to check it out. Subscribe here.
posted by kevinbelt at 9:53 AM on July 27, 2018
One can receive jessamyn's very informative TILT
Awwww thanks. I really enjoy
- Science for the Public's Weekly Newsletter (see sign up box on right) which is mostly a link roundup and I always find at least one longform article I love.
- 3to5 which is just a few links to good essays and longreads about tech and business written by a female programmer.
- All My Stars by joanne mcneil - she has a sort of dreamy way of talking about movies and books that I really enjoy.
posted by jessamyn at 10:16 AM on July 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Awwww thanks. I really enjoy
- Science for the Public's Weekly Newsletter (see sign up box on right) which is mostly a link roundup and I always find at least one longform article I love.
- 3to5 which is just a few links to good essays and longreads about tech and business written by a female programmer.
- All My Stars by joanne mcneil - she has a sort of dreamy way of talking about movies and books that I really enjoy.
posted by jessamyn at 10:16 AM on July 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you everyone for the wealth of great resources.
posted by kmkrebs at 11:04 AM on July 27, 2018
posted by kmkrebs at 11:04 AM on July 27, 2018
Anne Helen Petersen's newsletter is an interesting mix of cultural commentary, mountain west news and politics, and celebrity analysis. She also sometimes includes a picture of her dog, Peggy. I look forward to it every week.
posted by smartyboots at 11:52 AM on July 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by smartyboots at 11:52 AM on July 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Matt Levine's daily finance newsletter for Bloomberg is clear to non-specialists, funny and really interesting. Here's a recent issue, here's the full archive, and here's the signup link.
posted by caek at 11:57 AM on July 27, 2018
posted by caek at 11:57 AM on July 27, 2018
Among others not previously mentioned, I like Leah Finnegan on media, Will Sommer on right-wing media, and Bitchmedia on pop culture and feminism.
posted by box at 1:15 PM on July 27, 2018
posted by box at 1:15 PM on July 27, 2018
Gustavo Arellano's weekly newsletter is always worth reading.
The California Sun is a daily roundup of California news, including a nice dollop of history.
ResearchBuzz has research resources and links to articles on tech and social media. Eclectic and interesting.
I also enjoy Jessamyn's TILT and Anne Helen Petersen's newsletters.
posted by mogget at 1:24 PM on July 27, 2018
The California Sun is a daily roundup of California news, including a nice dollop of history.
ResearchBuzz has research resources and links to articles on tech and social media. Eclectic and interesting.
I also enjoy Jessamyn's TILT and Anne Helen Petersen's newsletters.
posted by mogget at 1:24 PM on July 27, 2018
I love Two Bossy Dames (cultural criticism), Migratory Notes (immigration policy and news) and The Ed's Up (science journalist Ed Yong's link roundup)
posted by ChuraChura at 3:27 PM on July 27, 2018
posted by ChuraChura at 3:27 PM on July 27, 2018
Explorator is a weekly newsletter that is just a huge bunch of links to archaeological news from around the world. It's been going for about 20 years.
posted by Rumple at 10:58 PM on July 27, 2018
posted by Rumple at 10:58 PM on July 27, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by tracer at 9:09 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]