A Case of Boredom
by Ghita Schwarz
Boredom has become like fat: once thought of as a privilege of the rich, now a problem of the poor and a source of shame.

FULL TEXT
Toastmaster
by Rachel Aviv
Uncovering the ultimate hypocrisy of public speaking.

Enter the Mongolian
by Jim Ruland
Inside the Las Vegas sumo machine with Mongolia’s Lance Armstrong.

Doctorow’s Brain
by Chris Bachelder
Is fiction a science, or an illusion?

FULL TEXT
U and Me
by John Freeman
An appreciation for John Updike turns to mania.

David Byrne talks with Olivia Judson
Finding the sexier side of evolutionary biology, and the associative leaps of faith in faux-scientific diagrams.

FULL TEXT
Richard Powers
interviewed by Alec Michod
“Only inhabiting another’s story can deliver us from certainty.”

Anthony Swofford
interviewed by Stephen Elliott
The author of the excellent Gulf War memoir Jarhead explains the massive amounts of care, politics, and sex that went into his new novel.

Cheryl Hines
interviewed by Carrie Brownstein
“Cheryl” from Curb Your Enthusiasm has invented an entire language from various grimaces, smiles, and only one word—Larry.

If Sammy Davis Jr. Had Written Moby-Dick
by Jack Pendarvis

Tool: Sawzall
by Phil Busse

60 Wrd/Min Art Critic
by Lori Waxman

Encyclopedia Volume I, A-E
reviewed by Rick Moody

Tom McCarthy’s Remainder
reviewed by Sarah Cook

FULL TEXT
Philip K. Dick’s Voices from the Street
reviewed by James M. Stubenrauch

Sheri Joseph’s Stray
reviewed by Michelle Richmond

OBERIU
reviewed by Adam Novy

FULL TEXT
Jon Woodward’s Rain
reviewed by Stephen Burt

Danger City and Danger City Two
reviewed by Michael Schulman

Four-Color Comics: What’s in Your Glass of Water?
by Michael Kupperman

Schema: Realism, Etc.
by Greg Larson