David Brooks' Sidney Awards go to the authors of the best magazine essays, and every year the psychic costs grow worse. As icon, myth, and ritual, the Nobel Prize is well secured — but what do we actually know about the Nobel Prize? A look at the Top 100 living geniuses. "Mathemagician" Arthur Benjamin races a team of calculators. How does he do it? A review of The Magic Circle: Performing Magic Through the Ages by Michael Bailey. The false prophet: Anthony Daniels on the false profundity of Kahlil Gibran. Experts and the Individualism Paradox: It starts as an innocent search for a pair of running shoes, but very quickly Cho finds herself in a world predicted by Alvin Toffler's Future Shock — can she escape? From PopMatters, here are some thoughts on the holiday season's uber pop icon. Season of superstition: A user's guide to the lost rituals of Christmas. A review of Christmas: A Candid History by Bruce David Forbes. How's your drink? Coquito is a great drink to help you get through the long Puerto Rican holiday season.
