Shelf Life
A place to read, think, and explore, together.
Thank you for your submission!
From This Collection
College admissions is a business, and the pandemic could upend it
by
Jeff Selingo
Oct 5, 2020
In his new book, Jeff Selingo looks at how some colleges must compete for applicants, and why the COVID-19 pandemic could make this competition even tighter.
The natural gas well that changed everything
Sep 15, 2020
In this excerpt, Daniel Yergin writes about a man’s determination to extract gas from underground rock denser than concrete.
CEO Reed Hastings on how Netflix beat Blockbuster
Sep 8, 2020
In this book excerpt, Hastings describes how he and co-founder Marc Randolph offered to sell the company to Blockbuster for $50 million.
How to sell the future
by
Bridget Bodnar
and Charlton Thorp
Sep 7, 2020
A look at how advertising execs sold computers before any of us knew what they were.
When coal miners can't breathe, getting compensation is an uphill legal battle
by
Chris Hamby
Sep 2, 2020
In his new book, journalist Chris Hamby describes miners' struggles to receive the health benefits they've been promised.
Why “America’s pumpkin queen” stayed on the land where she grew up
by
Sarah Frey
Aug 25, 2020
Sarah Frey dreamed of leaving her family’s farm. Then it became her life’s work.
Youth entrepreneur Mikaila Ulmer on learning to “Bee Fearless”
Aug 13, 2020
The 15-year-old founder and CEO of Me & the Bees Lemonade says youth entrepreneurs like her prove anyone can grow a company.
For public good, not for profit.
From California to the Midwest, examining the perils of industrial farming and the risk to food
by
Tom Philpott
Aug 12, 2020
An excerpt from "Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It."
"We don't waste fellowships on women": Microbiologist Rita Colwell on sexism in academia
Aug 10, 2020
Microbiologist Rita Colwell, the first female director of the National Science Foundation, talks about her experiences facing sexism in the world of science.
'America is an old house': Isabel Wilkerson on race and caste in America
Aug 5, 2020
In her new book, “Caste,” Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer Isabel Wilkerson compares America to an “old house” where “the work is never done, and you don’t expect it to be.”