From LRB, a review of A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life by Craig Venter; and a look at why those who hear only empty optimism in Obama aren’t listening. A review of On Deep History and the Brain by Daniel Lord Smail. Challenging the assumption that some Americans are at once too good, and not good enough, for the military. We may not know the real motivations behind the Iraq war for years, but it remains difficult to distill oil from all the possibilities. An excerpt from Education's End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life by Anthony T. Kronman. Jack Shafer separates bunk from fact in Malcolm Gladwell's performance at a New York storytelling forum. The rise of American incompetence: We used to be the world's most skillful entrepreneurs and managers, but now we're laughingstocks — what happened? From The New Yorker, an article on baseball’s most improbable post-career success story. There have been many retellings of Jesus’ life on screen, but the only unpardonable act in this arena of cinema is a bland, lacklustre narration. A review of Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works by Newt Gingrich. The Big Log Off: Where do computer files go when you die? Frank Schaeffer, John Whitehead and Cal Thomas have repudiated the theocratic movement they once led — here’s why.