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The kayaker who went missing—and stayed missing for so long that rescue teams were at a loss. The seemingly perfect man who conned women—and was brought to justice by his own victims.

If you, like me, are a fan of the Knicks, you probably caught last night’s game against the Heat on Prime Video. But if you want to see them play Miami again on Monday, you’ll need the streaming service MSG+ (at least, if you’re living in New York and lack cable). That’ll get you a bunch of games this season, including their December matchup against the Spurs, but you’ll also need Peacock if you intend to watch them play the Pistons in January.

Russell Brand had found his people, that much was clear. Last Saturday, in front of 800 fans in a hotel ballroom in Austin, the comedian doled out praise for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (whom he called “Great Brother Kennedy”), disdain for the medical establishment (“flat-out evil”), and gratitude for Jesus Christ (“Thank God we have a forgiving God that died for us”). He also told a bunch of dick jokes and, later, called me a Nazi.

The notion that your 20s are the best years of your life is more rumor than reality. It shows up in songs, films, ads, social-media posts—but it says more about Americans’ idealization of youth than it does about what it actually feels like to be young today. The 2024 World Happiness Report found that when American adults were asked to rate the extent to which they were living their “best possible life,” those over 60 answered the most positively, followed by 45-to-59-year-olds.

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In this inaugural episode of Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel examines the state of the internet as it stands now in November 2025 with Hank Green, a true citizen of the internet—somebody who has made a living riding the algorithmic waves of the social web. Green started his YouTube channel, Vlogbrothers, with his brother, John, back in 2007, and they now have more than 4 million subscribers.

Today The Atlantic is launching Galaxy Brain, a new video podcast hosted by staff writer Charlie Warzel about making sense of the online fire hose of our information ecosystem. In new episodes released every Friday, Charlie will be joined by a different guest each week to ask big questions about the intersection of online culture and human behavior. The first episode, which is now available, features the YouTuber Hank Green on what it means to survive online for 26 years.

This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books.
Sometimes the smallest detail can change the way you think about the world. This happened to me in 2009, when I read The Original of Laura—which consists of unedited fragments of Vladimir Nabokov’s unfinished last novel—and noticed that, after 35 years of writing in English, the author had still struggled to spell bicycle.

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People view a light show during a media preview of “Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience,” at Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on November 6, 2025. The immersive outdoor event allows visitors to explore a themed trail inspired by the Forbidden Forest from the Harry Potter films.Charlie Riedel / AP
A person walks past a maple tree displaying fall colors on November 7, 2025, in Kansas City, Missouri.