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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 some of the week’s best reads for you to savour.

This BBC writer tried out the concept of ‘tiny tourism’ while on holiday in Dublin. The philosophy, essentially, is that tourists should act like locals by visiting places like supermarkets. But she wasn’t sold on the idea.

(BBC, approx. seven mins reading time)

“Supermarket shopping might seem like an offbeat holiday choice, but that’s the essence of ‘Tiny Tourism’, a concept first coined by UK-based creative platform It’s Nice That. The counter-trend snubs overcrowded hotspots and ‘bucket lists’ in favour of seeking out small, hyper-local experiences. The principle boils down to one little rule: if it feels like a tourist would do it, don’t.”

Roberto Mosquera was deported from the US to the kingdom of Eswatini, in Southern Africa. He had never been to Eswatini, he hadn’t even heard of it. Now he’s imprisoned there. Why?

(The New York Times, approx. 23 mins reading time)

“Before they could make sense of the situation, they were forced inside a metal cage that was fitted onto a transport truck and driven to the Matsapha Correctional Complex, Eswatini’s maximum-security prison. In a post on X, the Department of Homeland Security had called Mosquera and the four other men ‘depraved monsters’ who were ‘so uniquely barbaric their home countries refuse to take them back.’ Now they were met by dozens of guards wielding large sticks.”

Pascaretta has paid $65,000 (€56,000) to a high-end matchmaking company over the years. He has gone on approximately 40 first dates, but he’s still looking for love.

(The New York Times, approx. 13 mins reading time)

“Right away, the date felt flat to Pascaretta. He is an executive at a global software company specialising in industrial artificial intelligence. His date had a big job in financial services. They were both professionally adept schmoozers, so over two rounds of drinks, they covered a lot of ground: the summer wedding circuit (she is a maid of honor in three, a good sign, Pascaretta thought); politics (both Republican); the Knicks; Celine Dion (she is a fan, and he’s going to her concert this fall in Paris). But there was no sizzle. After three hours, Pascaretta walked his date back to her apartment, where they hugged briefly. No kiss.”

Having schizophrenia can make it more difficult for the body to regulate core temperatures. In a heatwave, this means people with the condition face significant risks during a heatwave.

(Wired, approx. 10 mins reading time)

“People with schizophrenia are estimated to represent about 1 percent of the world’s population but they made up some 16 percent of the more than 600 deaths from heat exposure across British Columbia that week.”

This essay from a scientist shows how sound can offer new insights into nature, including the sounds earthworms make beneath the soil.

(Aeon, approx. 13 mins reading time)

*“Earthworms do not have a discernible mouth, a means to make sound, or ears, and most spend their lives burrowing below ground, eating soil and decaying organic matter. However, their behaviours produce sounds, which can reveal a surprising amount about the subterranean world in which they live. I’ve recently found myself leaning over a box of soil in the basement of my university department, headphones clutched to my ears, revelling in the soft, Velcro-like scrapes of earthworms eating.” *

Tech entrepreneur and longevity guru Bryan Johnson has made his wish to live to forever very clear. But why does he want to?

(The New York Times, approx. eight mins reading time)

“He says he has poured millions of dollars into studying and perfecting his own body, and calls himself the most measured human being in history. His goal is to make it possible to live forever. (He is almost 49.)”

This deep-dive looks into how a young couple who scammed fortunes from Canadian families managed to hide their criminal operation in plain sight.

(Toronto Life, approx. 55 mins reading time)

“By all appearances, Mansouri and Alouah were textbook arrivistes who had amassed the right connections, income and postal code to ascend Toronto’s new-money ranks. Yet something seemed amiss. Despite the apparent means to buy a house—or perhaps multiple—they were renters, squeezed into the main floor with two units above. Castle Frank is a tight-knit street, with an appointed ‘mayor’ and regular block parties, but the pair rarely interacted with their neighbours, shying away from small talk, barely waving when waved at.”

In 2018, The New York Times made a decision to start a series publishing obituaries for people who died but were overlooked by the publication. This first article remembers feminist poet and revolutionary Qiu Jin, civil rights leader and journalist Ida B Wells and many more.

(The New York Times, approx. 12 mins reading time)

*“Since 1851, The New York Times has published thousands of obituaries: of heads of state, opera singers, the inventor of Stove Top stuffing and the namer of the Slinky. The vast majority chronicled the lives of men, mostly white ones. Charlotte Brontë wrote ‘Jane Eyre’; Emily Warren Roebling oversaw construction of the Brooklyn Bridge when her husband fell ill; Madhubala transfixed Bollywood; Ida B. Wells campaigned against lynching. Yet all of their deaths went unremarked in our pages, until now.” *

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