As the token writer around here, I don’t have a whole lot to offer you in the way of design advice. I know when things look like crap and my expertise pretty much stops there. What I can tell you about, though, are things that you should read, because that’s what I spend most of my time doing, because who needs sleep, anyway? So, here’s some of the best stuff I’ve read over the last week.

The New Yorker
“What the Garbageman Knows”

Peter Hessler offers an intimate glimpse into life in modern Egypt as told through the lens of Sayyid Ahmed, his neighborhood garbageman.

Los Angeles Review of Books
“The Oldest Story: Toward a Theory of a Dead Girl Show”

Last week, David Lynch and Mark Frost announced that Showtime would reboot Twin Peaks, and the world rejoiced. This Los Angeles Review of Books essay from 2013 explores the connections, specifically through gender roles, between Twin Peaks and more recent shows like True Detective and Pretty Little Liars.

McSweeney’s
“This Week on As the World Tinders”

If you aren’t on Tinder, consider yourself lucky. If you are, you’ll likely relate to this McSweeney’s piece, which makes light of both some common characters found on the dating app as well as the ease with which users “burn” through potential mates.

Fast Company
“Your 5 Procrastination Excuses Debunked”

Procrastination plagues all of us at some point, and Fast Company seeks to alleviate the problem in this list of five common causes for putting things off.

The Atlantic
“Buy Experiences, Not Things”

This story looks at research that indicates paying for experiences provides more lasting happiness than purchasing material objects. So, Mom, I’m actually making myself HEALTHIER by going to The Catbird Seat in a couple weeks!

The New Yorker
“What Is Ebola?”

Ebola has, rightfully, been a hot-button issue lately, inspiring a number of hyperbolic headlines and news reports. New Yorker writer and novelist Teju Cole pokes fun at the rhetoric surrounding the disease, calling it “the North Korea of peanut allergies,” among other things.

Mother Jones
“In ‘Pen and Ink,’ People Tell the Fascinating Stories Behind Their Tattoos”

Pen and Ink, a book about tattoos and the people who have them, hit shelves last week week. Mother Jones has a sampling of the book’s illustrations and stories you can check out before going out and getting a copy (or a tattoo) of your own.