Longform – For all your summer reading!

The end of the academic year is just around the corner. What will you do with all that free time now that you don’t have to study? I suggest checking out the website Longform.org. Longform collects and recommends narrative journalism, both old and new, from around the web. Articles cover an immense range of subjects, from sports, true crime and popular culture to history, literature and many more. The only requirements for an article to be included on Longform are that it is over 2,000 words, well written, and freely available on the internet.

Finding articles of interest on Longform can be done in several different ways. Often I just check the main page. During the work week, Longform posts several articles a day. Checking out these articles can be like finding little nuggets of gold. I’ve read articles on random subjects that I never thought would interest me, only to find a totally new perspective or part of the world I otherwise wouldn’t have seen. Additionally, you can search for articles in the Longform search box, present on every page of the site. You can also check out articles by topics, writer, publication, or through the tag index.

Longform posts a couple weekly specials. Every week it offers “The Longform Guide to…,” a curated collection of the best articles on a particular topic. A sample of collections includes The Longform Guide to Cocaine,  the Guide to “Anonymous”, the Guide to Sad Retired Athletes and the Guide to Cold Cases. The site also offers weekly pod-casts interviewing an article writer and linking to a number of articles they’ve written.

Finally, if you see an article you want to read, but don’t have time, don’t despair! Longform allows you to save articles to read later through Readability, Instapaper, Pocket or a Kindle device. Longform also has a good ipad app that will do the same. So, if you find yourself with 10 to 20 minutes to spare, check out Longform. I promise you’ll never be bored.