For a tragic majority of Americans, rice comes in one of two forms: either a toxic-looking, boilable bag of Success or a Fold-Pak take-out container. Even highly capable home cooks shy away from the white stuff because it’s so easy to make poorly and nearly impossible to perfect. And really, does anything symbolize appliance fatigue more than a white plastic rice cooker? Get over your fears with a donabe, the clay pot the Japanese have made rice in for centuries. This handsome model from Tortoise looks as good on a trivet as it does on your stovetop. Simply rinse the rice, mix it with water in equal proportions, and cook over an open flame on medium-high heat until the water is more or less gone. Then let the pot sit covered for a bit. You’ll never disappoint your dinner guests with a gloopy batch ever again. ($192, tortoisegeneralstore.com) —Nathan King

Trench-coat weather has arrived in many pockets of the U.S. and Europe, and while it’s always tempting to shop for a newfangled shape or unexpected color, classics are classics—therefore we will be wearing Burberry’s Heritage Trench coats this fall. Woven at the Burberry mill in Keighley and sewn at the Castleford atelier in West Yorkshire, the rain-resistant, lightweight trench was invented back in 1912 by Thomas Burberry. Now it comes in three lengths and colors—honey, coal blue, and black—and is lined with Burberry check cotton, which has been used in this capacity since the 20s. While it’s tempting to stick with the long style, the short is especially irresistible. Whichever coat you pick, keep it for decades or even generations with Burberry’s repair-and-refurbishment operation at ReBurberry Services. Jaunty epaulets, belted cuffs, and a double-breasted button closure are only a few of the features that make Burberry’s trench coat the industry’s standard-bearer. ($2,590; burberry.com) —Ashley Baker

“I was born in the saddle,” says the American horse trainer Monty Roberts of his upbringing in an equestrian family. From a young age, Roberts was disturbed by the harsh “breaking” methods traditionally used to discipline horses, and he pledged to find a different, gentler approach. He developed a method that relies on silent body language, mirroring the horses’ natural, predictable movements. His innovative technique caught the attention of an unlikely ally: in 1989, Queen Elizabeth II sought to witness his work firsthand. Their friendship, which blossomed from this encounter, helped spread Roberts’s approach worldwide. In a new documentary directed and produced by Academy Award nominee Andrea Blaugrund Nevins, Roberts, now 89, reflects on his poignant journey and the friendship that changed his life. ($19.95, ifccenter.com) —Jeanne Malle

Coincidence or homicide? That was the question circulating the halls of the Truman Memorial Veterans’ Affairs Hospital, in Columbia, Missouri, back in the summer of 1992, when an alarming number of patients began unexpectedly dying. Early investigation by the hospital’s epidemiologist found that nearly all of these deaths occurred during male nurse Richard A. Williams’s night shifts. As more employees began making the haunting connection, they soon found themselves not only indicting Williams but also fighting off the hospital’s administration, which preferred the murders swept under the rug. Missouri journalist Jake Adelstein and co-host Shoko Plambeck deep-dive into the serial-killer case in Witnessed: Night Shift—the sort of true-crime podcast that you wish wasn’t true to begin with. (spotify.com) —Jack Sullivan

Editors are necessary evils, with an emphasis sometimes on the latter word. One could argue that the best editors do not seek fame, so what a wonderful surprise that Amy Reading has produced a superlative biography of the forgotten Katharine White—wife of E. B. White and mother of Roger Angell—who led the way in transforming The New Yorker from a regional humor magazine into a premier literary journal. Despite her many physical ailments and her marriage to a famed hypochondriac, over the course of 36 years, White discovered and nurtured many of the magazine’s best female writers, such as Janet Flanner, Nadine Gordimer, Mary McCarthy, and Elizabeth Bishop. She also managed to edit Vladimir Nabokov (out would go words such as “hiemal”), recognize the talent of an absurdly young John Updike, and in her later years become a writer herself. Her correspondence with her writers is not just a master class in editing, but an enlightening guide for how to be a good and supportive friend to those in need. ($35, harpercollins.com) —Jim Kelly

You can swoon over the Hermès leather armamentarium, but I tend to lose my composure over their fragrances. The new Barénia hooked me even before I knew it was an Hermès creation. When the unmarked sample arrived at my door, I sprayed it all over like any respectable beauty editor would. Usually, that leap of faith ends with two Tylenol. But this was the most delicious scent I’ve experienced in years. Barénia’s slight sweetness is undercut with an oaky citrus blend; it’s what perfumers call a “chypre.” It reminds me a bit of Baccarat Rouge 540, but Barénia is subtle and quiet, not derivative. Perfumer Christine Nagel named the scent after the house’s supple calf leather, and—even though it has no leather notes—it delivers an almost tactile sense of warmth. The bottle’s curved shoulders wear raised studs like the classic dog-collar bracelet. I still have dreams about Hermès leather in the form of a (stolen) Kelly bag, but I’ll comfort myself with a spritz of Barénia. ($170, hermes.com) —Linda Wells