Personally, I think you should spend your holiday season reading all of WIRED’s standout features. Start here, work backward. Have fun!

But fine, if you insist on spending some of that time with family or friends, we’ve also come up with 11 picks for more focused perusal. Not necessarily the best or most popular stories—as editors, we can’t choose favorites among all our precious children—but a collection that captures the wild range of life and weirdness on this planet in 2023. There’s AI, of course, and TikTok. Hardware and software. Stories that take you inside the biggest hacks of recent history, and personal quests to confirm family lore. Stories are important. We have to believe that, or we wouldn’t be here. And we’ll be here again next year, with even more stories to share.