For decades, Jeffrey Lendrum went to extreme lengths to snatch falcon eggs from their nests and sell them to the highest bidder. Then he got caught.

“When I first received this Nobel Prize for Literature, I got to wondering exactly how my songs related to literature. I wanted to reflect on it and see where the connection was. I’m going to try to articulate that to you. And most likely it will go in a roundabout way, but I hope what I say will be worthwhile and purposeful.”

The writer is reluctantly whisked away to to a small house in upstate New York to attend an ayhuasca ceremony with six strangers.

On switching to the gold standard and a trip to the Yukon to witness the modern gold rush.

A visit to Star Axis, a desert art installation that connects you to the cosmos.

A trip to Hawaii to cover a marathon.

Yes to Bernie Sanders, Rihanna, and the Real Housewives. No to the pussy hats.

A trip to the International Tolstoy Conference to investigate an unsolved murder.

What happened when two guys set out to convert their Colombian megachurch to Orthodox Judaism.

How the Library of Congress failed to adapt to the 21st century.

She turned to Google for help getting sober. Then she had to escape a nightmare.

An army of Western luxury-lifestyle purveyors flock to China to teach the country’s new billionaires how to act rich.

He used to weigh 1,000 pounds. Now he has to figure out what to do with the rest of his life.

Fishing gear can pose a deadly threat to whales—and to those who try to save them.

A lifelong Jehovah’s Witness moves to China to proselytize.

What it takes to deliver basic medical care to the most remote corners of the Himalayas.

An unlikely Army wife tries to come to terms with her husband’s calling.

Learning to love music—and to hate it, too.

Mr. Lindall was the only high school teacher who understood him. Then Mr. Lindall went to jail, and it was his turn to try to understand.

The fight to extradite El Chapo.

Two young girls attempt to murder another in Waukesha, Wisconsin, trying to bring an internet meme to life.

Three deaths in the mountains, and a community left to wonder: How close should we stand to our own mortality to feel alive?

Due to global warming, this island nation may cease to exist in 20 years.

How our efforts to illuminate the nighttime are dangerous to Earth’s biodiversity.

To save William Buttars’s life, his parents had to risk it.