The Material Review

Issue 131: Legendary Vessel For Sale, Golf Watches, Deep-Sea Divers on Oil Rigs, Oregon's Unis, AM Radio, Bombay Beach, Canada's Last Hockey Stick Factory and Spotlight On: Tough Traveler Funky Bags.

Michael Williams

and

Taylor Stacey

Oct 08, 2025

Stories worth reading. Stop indexing the internet.

Man Who Inspired a Back-to-the-Land Movement Is Selling His Boat

“Legendary creator of the Whole Earth Catalog is parting with his 64-foot wooden vessel, Mirene.” [Cabin Porn]

Tee Time

“The Forgotten Era of Golf Watches” [The Old Ghosts]

What It Feels Like to Risk Your Life as a Deep-Sea Diver on an Offshore Oil Rig

“You work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. And every day is a crapshoot at the bottom of the ocean.” [Esquire]

‘Our tradition to is to be untraditional’: Inside the lifecycle of an Oregon uniform

[ESPN]

“As automakers lobby to yank AM radio from new models, broadcasters argue that the trusty 105-year-old medium is an irreplaceable lifeline for millions of Americans. But is anybody listening?” [Popular Mechanics]

The Last Resort

“At Bombay Beach, a half-ruined former vacation town on the edge of the Salton Sea, absurdist philosophers, artists, and everyday townsfolk have undertaken a postapocalyptic experiment in radical living” [The Believer]