From NYRB, a review of Can't Remember What I Forgot: The Good News from the Front Lines of Memory Research by Sue Halpern; and a review of books on Iraq. Detroit's Big Three are a national disgrace — but we still need to save them. From Counterpunch, RIP: the Experts, 1929-2008. Ed Kilgore on the anatomy of conservative self-deception. Three conservatives plot the future of the GOP, and handicap the chances of Sarah Palin and other 2012 contenders. The green conservative: An interview with Jim DiPeso of Republicans for Environmental Protection. Are human beings hard-wired to ignore the threat of catastrophic climate change? Can science save the world? Martin Rees investigates. From Science News, an article on how to (really) trust a mathematical proof. What really drew Russia and Georgia into conflict this summer? James Rubin wants to know. Of Genital Thieves: Andrian Kreye on the exploration of economic irrationality. Michael Perelman on the hegemony of Internet porn. From TLS, longitude forged: How an eighteenth-century hoax has taken in Dava Sobel and other historians. Selective Testing: Does Big Pharma stand to gain the most from new genetic tests for drug therapy? When the deity knows you're dead: How do different religions define death? A review of The Language of Things by Deyan Sudjic.