A review of Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East by Robin Wright (and more). Tea and empathy: The human imagination allows us to make the world in the image of ourselves. The problem with conventional economics: An excerpt from Human Goods, Economic Evils: A Moral Approach to the Dismal Science by Edward Hadas (and more). For the Love of the Game: Leon R. Kass and Eric Cohen on Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, the Mitchell Report, and the adulteration of American sports. A look at the world’s 10 oldest leaders. Why do we treat artists and athletes differently when it comes to drug use? A review of Jonathan Rosen’s The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature. From Sign and Sight, novelist Georg Klein analyses the portrayal of mass murder in a book with an SS officer as narrator. More on Michio Kaku's Physics of the Impossible. From TLS, Georges Simenon, the existential hack: Paul Theroux on Maigret's creator, the Balzac of blighted lives, who was confident of winning the Nobel Prize; and literature's self-implosion: A review of The Death of the Critic by Ronan McDonald. An excerpt from Everything Is Wrong with You: The Modern Woman's Guide to Finding Self Confidence Through Self Loathing by Wendy Molyneux. Bottled water world: Every year, the clear stuff pours into West Virginia from around the world.