One Place News
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
Over the past two decades, Matt Seaton discovered something about himself: He loves building walls. Seaton started by mending a stone wall at the Vermont home his wife inherited from her parents, and then, he writes, “bit by bit—which is the way with walls—my interest and knowledge deepened until what had begun as recreation morphed into a hobby job, mending other people’s walls.”
Eventually, Seaton’s new passion changed his life: “In what probably struck friends and family as an act of lunacy, I quit my day job as an editor at this magazine and became a part-time waller.”
Not all of our passions turn into part-time jobs, but Seaton’s story is a reminder that sometimes the things that bring us the most joy are the ones we stumble upon. Today’s newsletter explores how to seek out—or just open yourself up to—a unique new hobby.
On Unique Hobbies
The True History of New England’s Stone Walls
By Matt Seaton
Why we love them, and why I build them
Six Underrated Hobbies to Try Out
By Stephanie Bai
Picking up a new pastime is no small feat.
Eight Books for Dabblers
By Sophia Stewart
Casual pursuits can enrich our lives, regardless of whether we’re any good at them.
Still Curious?
- How hobbies infiltrated American life: America has a love affair with “productive leisure,” Julie Beck wrote in 2022.
- How leisure time became work: The rise of the attention economy has accelerated our habit of engaging with our hobbies in a data-driven way, Shirley Li wrote in 2021.
Other Diversions
- Why so much Millennial fiction is boring
- Too scared for sex
- How the American office became inevitable
PS
I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. “I moved to Rhinebeck, New York, to a modest condo in July of 2023,” Maria F, 73, writes. “This sunset over the pond directly off of my porch appeared three days after I moved in. Three years later, I continue to welcome evenings with these ever-changing sunsets, grateful for these moments that remind us to be present.”
I’ll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks.
— Isabel
