IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair.
We’ve hand-picked the week’s best reads for you to savour.
Is the porn industry in Europe in decline? Yes, according to Amelia Gentleman, who talks to experts who say the industry is “imploding”.
(The Guardian, approx 14 mins reading time, 2910 words)
Robert Johnson, managing director of NetCollex, an adult entertainment company, offers two anecdotes that he thinks characterise the state of the industry’s decline. “One of the biggest licensed sex shops in Soho was Private in Brewer Street. It has recently become a coffee shop, which suggests people are more interested in coffee than they are in porn,” he says.
If you’ve already watched Gone Girl, you’ve likely been googling reviews and articles on the thriller. Here’s one that claims it knows what the film is really about. (Suffice to say it is laden with spoilers)
(The New Yorker, approx 9 mins reading time, 1630 words)
At the same time, “Gone Girl” seemed like one of those experiences to which the “cultural uncertainty principle” applies: you can read the book or you can see the movie, but you can’t fully embrace both versions, because they’ll occupy the same brain-space, obscuring one another.
Tiffany Stanley lost her aunt to dementia. She became her caregiver the week that she turned 29, and here she writes about this difficult experience.
(National Journal, approx 50 mins reading time, 10080 words)
Tucked into her hospital bed at Lexington Medical Center, Jackie looked so frail and sick that it was heartbreaking. She had been a hairdresser for many years and once owned her own salon. She was the woman who taught me to wear lipstick, who never left the house without her mascara on and her blond bob perfectly styled. Now, her hair was matted and unkempt. She needed a bath and her teeth brushed.
Brittany Maynard was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour. She has decided to take her own life in a month. This is her story.
(Compassion & Choices, approx 6 mins 30 viewing time)
Could the current Ebola disaster have been stopped? Yes, this article says – the world’s health organisations could have stepped in.
(The Washington Post, approx42 mins reading time, 8449 words)
The virus easily outran the plodding response. The WHO, an arm of the United Nations, is responsible for coordinating international action in a crisis like this, but it has suffered budget cuts, has lost many of its brightest minds and was slow to sound a global alarm on Ebola. Not until Aug. 8, 4 1 ⁄ 2 months into the epidemic, did the organization declare a global emergency.
This Buzzfeed investigation looks at how 28 mothers in 11 US states were sentenced to prison for failing to prevent their partners from harming their children. In all the cases, there was evidence the women had been abused by these men. And in some case, the men were given shorter sentences.
(Buzzfeed, approx 35 mins reading time, 7794 words)
Where there is evidence of the women being battered, the case files describe them being punched, throttled, kicked, whipped, or raped — often in combination — at or around the time their assailants were doing the same to their children. “My husband took full possession of me and my life,” a mother in Tennessee told the court right before her 15-year sentence was handed down.
…AND A CLASSIC FROM THE ARCHIVES…
In 1981, a Trans World Airlines flight began to fall out of the sky. This is what happened next.
(Longform, approx 29 mins reading time, 5868 words)
The buzz continued and now the plane was shaking slightly. And it was turning slightly, and still rolling to the right. And the autopilot was still turning the wheel to the left. But it wasn’t doing a thing. The plane was still turning right.
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