From Metapsychology, a review of Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion; a review of Copernicus, Darwin and Freud: Revolutions in the History and Philosophy of Science by Friedel Weinert; and a review of Science Talk: Changing Notions of Science in American Culture by Daniel Patrick Thurs. An interview with Blake Bailey, author of Cheever: A Life (and more; and a review at Bookforum). The Forever Virgins: Even before the Catholic Church had nuns, it had consecrated virgins — and, today, women are choosing and reviving this largely forgotten vocation. Still looking for the western feminists: Women who believe liberal values exploit their sexuality have something much greater to fear — the jackboot of dictatorship. An interview with Ian Bremmer on the rise of state capitalism. A review of The Richness of Art Education by Howard Cannatella. Should we defer to Aristotle or Plato on the potatoness of Pringles, or ask a child? (and a review of Potato: A History of the Propitious Esculent by John Reader). From ARPA, a review of books on unions in the US and Australia. From SSIR, an interview with Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation. Decline and fall: What the Roman Empire and the newspaper industry have in common.

From New York, sex, jazz, and Datsuns: 1959 was a year that left its mark — many marks — on the city and the world. A review of Matteo Pasquinelli's Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons. Who was Abdul Wahhab? The life of the Islamic cleric who shaped Saudi Arabia. Tony Wright may not be the best known member of the British parliament, but the highly respected politician is arguably its most important back bencher. A review of Responsibility to Protect: The Global Effort to End Mass Atrocities by Alex J. Bellamy. Growing Pains: Watching these actors turn into awkward teenagers before our eyes has lent the films an atmosphere of uncertainty. Here is the curious thing: Ayn Rand, the writer/philosopher/harridan, often cited, less often read, is back. Ha, I'd buy: that A recent study suggests that humor may indeed have a subliminal effect. Long lost relative: A front-page introduction for a 47-million-year-old primate fossil. Power to the People? Some things are best left to undemocratic bodies. From Christianity Today, an essay on the strange place of religion in contemporary art. A panel on The Geopolitics of Emotion: How Cultures of Fear, Humiliation, and Hope are Reshaping the World by Dominique Moisii. Every town has a richest person — do you know who the richest person in your town is?

From Good, why we should encourage — and incentivize — immigrants to rejuvenate our ravaged cities, one thousand-dollar house at a time. From Triple Canopy, utopian modernism turned on its head in Caracas, where residents have made fifty-year-old superblock housing projects into the locus of sprawling improvised settlements; and in 1966, New York's new mayor, John Lindsay, launched a series of far-reaching plans to transform the city, most of which were never realized — Ian Volner and Matico Josephson recover that vision and its lessons for the present day. A review of Gene M. Heyman's Addiction: A Disorder of Choice. The fight to fit back in: When Craig Lewis left his teaching job to fly a helicopter in Iraq, he was risking more than just his life. An article on Chinese political attitudes and values in comparative context. From Cafe Babel, should Britain become America? Lacrosse, created by American Indians and incubated by schools on the East Coast, is showing serious growth. Artificial intelligence is back in fashion, which raises the question: Will computer intelligence surpass our own? It seems that Jim Collins, for all his exacting approaches to time management and research, has been blessed with something he cannot control: repeated bouts of flat-out luck.

From TED, Jay Walker explains why two billion people around the world are trying to learn English. A review of In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build a Perfect Language by Arika Okrent (and more). Knockabout popular debate appeals to few scholars, but if intellectuals disappear from the public eye, academia may suffer. A review of How to Win a Cosmic War by Reza Aslan. Giles Fraser doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry about the absence of humour in much thinking about religion today. Thumbs down from film critics? Studios find some love on the Internet. What do former beauty queens do once they've healed humanity of all its ills? A review of Fear of Music: Why People Get Rothko But Don’t Get Stockhausen by David Stubbs. Here's a top 10 list of the planet's evil greens. What would Martin Luther King Jr. — had he been alive today — thought of our latest president’s oratory? A review of History, Historians, and Conservatism in Britain and America: From the Great War to Thatcher and Reagan by Reba Soffer. Here's love letter to the Interstate System. A newspaper stole my grandmother: A writer's family history runs smack into the concept of plagiarism in the post-Google age.