When anyone and everyone is a publisher, it isn't easy to figure out what is worth your time. These link curators find the best articles worth reading on the internet.
There are so many articles written and shared, a regular person can't sift through them. This has led to the rise of curators who will recommend only good articles to save you time and energy. There's something for every type of reader out there, so it's all about finding someone whose tastes meet yours.
1. 3 Quarks Daily (Web): Smartest Curated Articles on the Internet
3 Quarks Daily (3QD) is one of the most intelligent sites to boost your brain. Among its admirers are Nassim Nicholas Taleb, William Dalrymple, Horst Ludwig Stormer, Annie Dillard, and other accomplished intellectuals. And hopefully, you too. Visit the website regularly or subscribe to the newsletter; it's worth your while either way.
The website has two parts. First is the curated articles, where the editors of 3QD pick eight to twelve thought-provoking articles daily from Tuesday to Sunday, including a poem. Each article is presented with an excerpt of its best part and a link to the full piece. There is a tremendous range to the types of reads, but the common purpose is to give you an "intellectual surfing experience," as the site puts it.
On Monday, 3QD publishes original writing from its staff and guest contributors. This Monday Magazine also includes poetry and cartoons, and is completely free.
If there's one problem with 3QD, it's the inability to surf its archives easily. The site has been active since 2004, making it one of the greatest human-picked collections of writing on the internet. But with no way to see top posts or categories and tags, those archives are only for those willing to go chronologically through every back issue.
2. The Electric Typewriter (Web): Easiest Way to Find Great Articles to Read
The Electric Typewriter (TETW) isn't updated regularly anymore. But its archives are full of engrossing reads, and meticulously categorized at that. In fact, this site might just be the best way to find articles worth reading through its several lists.
For example, take the section on Women. It has a range of topics like Women, Growing up Female, Reproduction, Feminism, Women and Work, etc. Each of these topics includes multiple articles in the form of a headline and a short descriptive blurb. It's this extensive sub-listing that sets the site apart.
Like Women, there are other categories such as life, death, love, happiness, politics, race, tech, psychology, the internet, etc. You can quickly find the 150 best articles on TETW through a shortlist or filter by subjects and authors. Fans of true crime and unsolved mysteries shouldn't miss the true crime section.
3. Library of Scroll (Web): Handpicked Collection of Longform Articles
Library of Scroll is an eclectic collection of longreads handpicked by two women curators, Nilambari and Akshata. Each week, LoS features three articles worth reading, released every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
It's a lovely three-tile design format that showcases the headline with a lead image and a one-sentence description of what you're in for. Each tile also notes the average reading time for the article. For more detailed descriptions, go to the archives which have a longer blurb for each article.
Broadly, the articles on LoS fall in 10 categories you can browse by: learning and careers, self-love and relationships, money matters, fantastic people, human behavior, building start-ups, whimsical and curious reads, the fast-growing internet, and the perils of the web. With the wide variety of publications that the creator duo chooses from, you'll find plenty of reading material on every topic.
4. The Sunday Long Read (Web): Weekly Collection of the Best Articles and Links to Read
The Sunday Long Read is a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles picked by two journalists, Jacob Feldman and prize-winning veteran Don Van Natta Jr. The stories they pick are all about information and entertainment, and don't go into hot takes or opinions.
The email newsletter is packed with a shocking amount of links, probably enough to fill any voracious reader's Sunday. The team also sometimes throws in original articles, but it's the curation that's the real meat here. You can check their last 10 newsletters in the archives and subscribe to receive every new issue.
Every newsletter has a single clear favorite by Don and Jacob so that you can avoid being overwhelmed by choice. You'll also find a few recurring picks in each issue, like the Sunday Q&A interview, the Sunday Oral History revisiting popular culture and events, the Sunday Fiction, the Sunday Still photograph, the #SundayLR list, and The Last Laugh for humorous articles.
5. Bookshlf (Web): A Social Network of Curated Links and Shared Articles
Bookshlf is a social network for sharing links worth reading. The app also helpfully calculates the average reading time for any article shared. The democratization of curation is interesting as you get a more diverse set of links, but that also means there is no guarantee of quality.
The app seeks to solve this problem by setting some users as top sharers based on their frequency of shared links and followers on the Bookshlf platform. The Bookshlf Top 50 is a good place to start and discover the best articles shared today, or you can dive into recommended "shelves" or categories about any topic.
Bookshlf doesn't restrict itself to articles on websites alone. It also includes YouTube links and social media like Facebook posts. While you might not be looking for videos, the inclusion of posts gives it a different depth that other curators lack. After all, many users tend to write long articles on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other networks, so why should you miss out on good reads there?
Also, Consider…
Some of the most popular article curators are too famous for listing here, but in case you didn't know about them, you're in for a treat.
And check out our previous list of article curators.
Of Paywalls and Paid Newsletters
While these article curators make it much easier for you to find stuff to read, there is the question of money. How long are they going to keep doing it? Some have resorted to making paid newsletters, while others use advertising to sustain.
And then there is the inevitable issue of paywalls by big media publications. While plenty of the material in these newsletters is free, some links are behind paywalls. Hey, good writing isn't always going to be free. In the quest to save yourself time, you might want to consider how much that time is worth and support a few of these curators and publications.