I don’t know how Maria Popova does it. (Others have asked the same thing.) She’s the sole curator of an ad-free site that presents two or three reviews of new books every day, on subjects ranging from neuroscience to poetry to design, and of a corresponding Twitter feed that’s updated 20 to 40 times a day.
6. The Chronicle of Higher Education
If you care about how the education establishment is evolving, the Chronicle is the most authoritative source. Amazingly, it’s got six whole people assigned to covering technology in education. (But in this area, it also has a newer rival: see Edsurge, next.) A goodly amount of the Chronicle’s content is outside the inevitable paywall.
7. Edsurge
Edsurge, a free weekly e-mail newsletter about technology in education, is led by Betsy Corcoran, a veteran of Scientific American, the Washington Post, and Forbes. It offers lively stories highlighting new edtech products, but it also asks tough questions, like whether learning to code is really better than learning a new language.
8. Kottke.org
Kottke.org, begun by former Web designer Jason Kottke in 1998, isn’t a publication, but rather a classic link blog—maybe the classic link blog, alongside Boing Boing. It’s full of pointers to fun, unusual, trending, or eye-catching stuff around the Web. This week it led me to a great Washington Post chat with Elizabeth Kolbert about her book on the mass extinction event currently underway due to technology-induced climate change. (If you like link blogs and you like mobile tech, another must-follow is Jon Gruber’s Daring Fireball.)
9. Mother Jones
Mother Jones killed whatever chance Mitt Romney had at the presidency by breaking the story of the “47 percent” video. The irreverent, 38-year old publication is one of the last still doing real investigative journalism. It’s joined forces with The Atlantic, Slate, Wired, the Guardian, Grist, and the Center for Investigative Reporting to do big climate change stories at Climate Desk.
10. The New Republic
For a lefty magazine about politics written largely by outside contributors, The New Republic has surprisingly good technology coverage. Sean Wilentz’s recent piece about Edward Snowden and Julian Assange is a must-read for anyone upset about the revelations over the NSA’s spying programs. You can read eight free articles per month.
New York is mostly about New York: fashion, nightlife, restaurants, shopping. But its coverage of technology, especially the media world, is first-rate—I’d point to recent essays about Twitter, BuzzFeed, Zynga, and Facebook.
12. The New Yorker
No need to explain why this one is on my list. It’s long been the seat of good writing in English. But with people like Ken Auletta, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Gopnik, Elizabeth Kolbert, and George Packer, Richard Preston, and John Seabrook on the staff, the New Yorker always offers stimulating coverage of science, technology, the environment, health, and the politics and business that surround them.
13. NextDraft
A daily e-mail newsletter (and mobile app) from San Francisco-based essayist and news junkie Dave Pell. NextDraft unfailingly identifies 10 interesting stories or clusters of stories from around the Web, usually including at least a few about the tech world. Every day three or four of Pell’s items go straight into my Pocket queue.
My alma mater. (And also Bob’s and Rebecca’s and Greg’s.) In addition to providing deep and early coverage of emerging technologies, TR takes stands on tough issues, like the need for genetically modified foods.
15. Wired
To be honest, I haven’t bought a paper copy of Wired in years. But fortunately, most of its articles are online—like Steven Levy’s exclusive look inside the NSA post-Snowden—and there’s a great selection of Web-only content, including one of the Web’s best technology op-ed sections. You can also buy a digital subscription (as you can for all of the magazines on this list).
