Books & Fiction: Ann Patchett’s “My Three Fathers”

Plus: How does science really work? And poetry by Tracy K. Smith and Jacob Sunderlin. View in browser | Update your preferences Personal History My Three Fathers My problems were never ones of scarcity. I suffered from abundance. By Ann Patchett Essays & Criticism Books How Does Science Really Work? Science is objective. Scientists are not. Can an “iron rule” explain how they’ve changed the world anyway? By Joshua Rothman Books Why Private Eyes Are Everywhere Now Private investigators have been touted as an antidote to corruption and a force for transparency. But they’ve also become another weapon in the hands of corporate interests. By Patrick Radden Keefe Books Briefly Noted “Ellis Island,” “Think Least of Death,” “The Appointment,” and “His Only Wife.” Poetry Poems “I Sit Outside in Low Late-Afternoon Light to Feel Earth Call to Me” “Is the world intended for me?” By Tracy K. Smith Poems “Family as a Western in Which No One Talks” “He guns / his rebuilt truck to say it: everything broken // gets fixed.” By Jacob Sunderlin Podcasts Fiction Podcast ZZ Packer Reads Lesley Nneka Arimah The author joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Who Will Greet You at Home,” by Lesley Nneka Arimah, from a 2015 issue of the magazine. The Writer’s Voice: Fiction from the Magazine Joseph O’Neill Reads “Rainbows” The author reads his story from the October 5, 2020, issue of the magazine. More from The New Yorker Personal History How I Met the Reclusive Georgia O’Keeffe The story of two encounters—one in life, the other on the page. By Roxana Robinson On Television The Brilliant Awkwardness of “Pen15” Like some of the best fictions centered on adolescence, “Pen15” is incredibly good at showing girls’ painful emotional and physical hunger for the gaze of uninterested, often cruel boys. By Naomi Fry This e-mail was sent to you by The New Yorker. To insure delivery, we recommend adding newyorker@newsletters.newyorker.com, to your contacts, while noting that it is a no-reply address. Please send all newsletter feedback to tnyinbox@newyorker.com. For more from The New Yorker, sign up for our newsletters, shop the store, and sign in to newyorker.com, where subscribers always have unlimited access. Contact us with questions. View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2020. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.