archive

Miscellany

From The New York Times Magazine, a special issue on Ideas 2007. A review of Do Ants Have Arseholes?: And 101 Other Bloody Ridiculous Questions by Jon Butler and Bruno Vincent. A review of The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them) by Peter Sagal.  Shirt Happens: How's this for a fashion statement? Radar slips into something less comfortable. Why has the world gone pink mad? It's the colour of hypocrisy, gingivitis and all things girly. A review of Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings. A review of Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling by Bret Hart. An interview with Frank Miniter, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Hunting. To yoga or not to yoga: It's an easy question, unless you're an over-booked, obsessive neurotic who really needs her yoga to be just right. Scents and sensitivity: Subliminal smells can have powerful effects. A review of The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History by Katherine Ashenburg (and more and more and more). A review of Next to Godliness: Confronting Dirt and Despair in Progressive Era New York City by Daniel Eli Burnstein.  Dirty little secrets: Why dry-cleaners are becoming wet. Driven by a wave of cheap labor, the spa industry has expanded dramatically, transforming what were once luxuries into social imperatives for a growing number of women — but what kind of work is this?  A review of Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day by Joel Osteen.