The Best of JSTOR Daily
20+ most popular JSTOR Daily articles, as voted by our community.
Trending
These are currently making the rounds on Refind.
Beware the Thorn of the Zéphirine Drouhin
Writers have long plotted murder mysteries in gardens of all sorts. What makes these fertile grounds for detective fiction?
The Cost of Inflation in Prison
In prisons across the country, the long history of legal forced labor intersects with present-day inflation.
Nuremberg: City of Dreams and Nightmares
From a mercantile powerhouse in the Middle Ages to a stage for genocidal horror in the twentieth century, Nuremberg has played a pivotal role in German history.
A Mughal Mosque in Kenya
Built for Punjabi migrants brought to Africa by the British and modeled on Mughal architecture, the Jamia Masjid in Nairobi serves Kenya’s Muslim minority.
JSTOR Daily on Architecture
The Evolution of Zaha Hadid, Architect
An unconventional architect who started her career as an outsider, Hadid became a leading figure in architecture and design in the twenty-first century.
JSTOR Daily on Art
The Artists Who Hated the Eiffel Tower
Now an icon of modernism and avant-garde design, the Eiffel Tower was once seen by Parisian writers and artists as a blight on the cityscape.
JSTOR Daily on Chess
Chess, Unlike War, is a Game of Perfect Information
The late poet Charles Simic was a chess prodigy who used the queen and her court to conjure a hellscape that invoked a childhood in war-time Belgrade.
JSTOR Daily on Circular Economy
Waste Not, Want Not
Sewage is a vital part of a circular economy—and we have the tech to make good use of it. Why don’t we?
JSTOR Daily on Crime
Rethinking Prison as a Deterrent to Future Crime
Time behind bars can increase the likelihood that someone will re-offend, research finds. In many cases, programs that rehabilitate, rather than punish, may be a better solution.
JSTOR Daily on Food
Aphrodisiacs of the Aztec and Inca
Aztec and Inca societies used a huge number of aphrodisiacs, from peanuts to hallucinogenic mushrooms to insect larvae.
Where Do Nutrition Labels Come From?
We all ponder them when standing in the cereal aisle of the grocery store, but why do we even have nutrition labels on our foods?
JSTOR Daily on History
Delts Don’t Lie - JSTOR Daily
Renaissance artists routinely used men as models for their depictions of female subjects, yet only the musculatures of Michelangelo tell that story.
Look Both Ways - JSTOR Daily
With the arrival of the automobile, governments had to scramble to find ways to protect and control pedestrian use of the road.
JSTOR Daily on Poems
How Do We Know That Epic Poems Were Recited from Memory?
Scholars once doubted that pre-literate peoples could ever have composed and recited poems as long as the Odyssey. Milman Parry changed that.
JSTOR Daily on Women
Was She Really Rosie?
The unlikely, true story of the Westinghouse “We Can Do It” work-incentive poster that became an international emblem of women’s empowerment.
Popular
These are some all-time favorites with Refind users.
Every Good Bird Does Fine
Is birdsong music, speech, or something else altogether? The question has raged for millennia, drawing in everyone from St. Augustine to Virginia Woolf.
The Disappearance of Japan’s “Third Gender”
Gender roles in Edo Japan recognized an in-between position for young men, called Wakashu, that was erased as Japan westernized.
The Pitfalls of the Pursuit of Happiness
The pursuit of happiness is often considered an ideal, but it may be possible to have too much—or the wrong kind—of a good thing.
Are Video Games Like Novels?
Video games as interactive storytelling? Maybe not at first glance, but as Eric Hayot explains, the interplay between game and narrative is real.
What is Refind?
Every day Refind picks the most relevant links from around the web for you. is one of more than 10k sources we monitor.
How does Refind curate?
It’s a mix of human and algorithmic curation, following a number of steps:
- We monitor 10k+ sources and 1k+ thought leaders on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
- In addition, our users save links from around the web using our Save buttons and our extensions.
- Our algorithm processes 100k+ new links every day and uses external signals to find the most relevant ones, focusing on timeless pieces.
- Our community of active users gets the most relevant links every day, tailored to their interests. They provide feedback via implicit and explicit signals: open, read, listen, share, mark as read, read later, «More/less like this», etc.
- Our algorithm uses these internal signals to refine the selection.
- In addition, we have expert curators who manually curate niche topics.
The result: lists of the best and most useful articles on hundreds of topics.
How does Refind detect «timeless» pieces?
We focus on pieces with long shelf-lives—not news. We determine «timelessness» via a number of metrics, for example, the consumption pattern of links over time.
How many sources does Refind monitor?
We monitor 10k+ content sources on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
Can I submit a link?
Indirectly, by using Refind and saving links from outside (e.g., via our extensions).
How can I report a problem?
When you’re logged-in, you can flag any link via the «More» (...) menu. You can also report problems via email to hello@refind.com
Who uses Refind?
450k+ smart people start their day with Refind. To learn something new. To get inspired. To move forward. Our apps have a 4.9/5 rating.
Is Refind free?
Yes, it’s free!
How can I sign up?
Head over to our homepage and sign up by email or with your Twitter or Google account.