“Philip Johnson’s fingers are no longer strong enough to play any violin, never mind one so unforgiving. So he keeps the Strad in a plastic crate. The instrument is the only thing he has of value. It is also his biggest secret.” Geoff Edgers on The Violin Thief.

+ For 35 days, WaPo’s David Maraniss and Robert Samuels crossed the country to try to understand what voters are thinking during this, the craziest of election seasons. And they found out a lot which they share in the four-part series: The Great Unsettling.

+ “The dangerous culture of male entitlement and sexual hostility hiding within America’s national parks and forests.” From HuffPo’s Highline: Out Here, No One Can Hear You Scream.

+ NYT Mag: An Insurance Salesman and a Doctor Walk Into a Bar, and End Up at the North Pole. )This the only kind of pioneering expedition I can relate to. An accidental one.)

+ And here’s part 2 of The Mastermind from The Atavist.