Scroll down or click for book reviews and interviews.


















































selected articles + essays


• "Braille Tattoo" in the Ideas issue of the New York Times Magazine, December 2007

• "Lightning Farms" in the Ideas issue of the New York Times Magazine, December 2007

• "Murphy Balcony" in the Ideas issue of the New York Times Magazine, December 2007

• "Arnold Odermatt: On Duty," The Believer, December/January 2007 (about a Swiss police officer who photographed car accidents on the roads of Niwalden Canton for 40 years)

• "Air-Index Impressionism" in the Ideas issue of the New York Times Magazine, December 2006

• "The Comb That Listens" in the Ideas issue of the New York Times Magazine, December 2006

• "Speed-Reducing Art" in the Ideas issue of the New York Times Magazine, December 2006

• "Our Weird Uncle Eakins: Did the greatest American artist of the nineteenth century drink too much milk?" The Believer, December 2005/January 2006

• "Trust Spray" and "The False-Memory Diet," in the Ideas issue of the New York Times Magazine, December 2005

• "The Cosmic Sympathies of Athanasius Kircher," The Ganzfeld, November 2005

• "Life Advice Gleaned from the Bliss Spa Catalog," McSweeney's, February 2002

• "Sentences I Wish I Hadn't Written," McSweeney's, January 2001

• “Punditry: Have Doctorate, Will Comment,” The New York Times, August 1999 (about a new “Public Intellectual” Ph.D. program at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton)

• "One of the Tricks That Women Have Played on Their Husbands," Nerve.com, March 1999 (a free adaptation of a tale from The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, born 1313, died 1375)

• “(Real) Games (Real) People Play,” The New York Times Magazine, January 1999 (about the “Illegal Games” exhibition at the New Museum of Contemporary Art)

• “Uniformity,” The New York Times Magazine, November 1998 (about the sameness of clothing design worn by young people in developed countries around the world)

• “My Elephant Could Paint That,” The New York Times Magazine, November 1998 (about Russian émigré conceptual artists Komar and Melamid)

• “No Chickens Will be Harmed,” The New York Times Magazine, August 1998 (about The Fringe Theater Festival in New York)

• “Frank Lloyd Riders, The New York Times Magazine, June 1998 (about the motorcycle exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum)

• “Tonya: The Long and Potholed Road,” The New York Times Magazine, February 1998 (about Tonya Harding’s relationship with the media)

• “Angrily Cute,” The New York Times Magazine, February 1998 (about Primal Publishing, independent literary publishers)

• “I’ve Been Very Bad,” The New York Times Magazine, October 1997 (about the literary trend towards confessional non-fiction)

• “Fall Books Preview: Where There’s Smoke There's Fire,” Time Out New York, September 1997

• “Solitary Man,” The New York Times Magazine, July 1997 (about Peter France, author of Hermits: Insights of Solitude)

• “Because You Are Mortal,” The New York Times Magazine, December 1996 (about current autobiographies by prominent figures)

• “Dream Weaver,” The New York Times Magazine, December 1996 (about a live-in installation by artist Janine Antoni at the Guggenheim Museum)


selected book reviews


Voodoo Heart: Stories, by Scott Snyder, The Believer, June 2006

The Dead Fish Museum, by Charles D'Ambrosio, The Believer, May 2006

Train to Lo Wu, by Jess Row, The Believer, February 2005

Case Histories: A Novel, by Kate Atkinson, The Believer, November 2004

Monturiol's Dream: The Extraordinary Story of the Submarine Inventor Who Wanted to Save the World, by Matthew Stewart, The Dallas Morning News, September 2004

Bad Move: A Novel, by Linwood Barclay, The Dallas Morning News, July 2004

Crowded with Genius: The Scottish Enlightenment: Edinburgh's Moment of the Mind, by James Buchan, The Dallas Morning News, January 2004

Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books, by Paul Collins, The Dallas Morning News, August 2003

Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science – from the Babylonians to the Mayans, by Dick Teresi, Forbes FYI quarterly, December 2002

Edison's Eve: A History of the Quest for Mechanical Life, by Gaby Wood, Forbes FYI quarterly, September 2002

Unlimited Media: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives, by Todd Gitlin, Wired Magazine, March 2002

The Future of Ideas, by Lawrence Lessig, Wired Magazine, December 2001

Emergence: The Secret Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software, by Steven Johnson, Wired Magazine, October 2001

Intoxicating Minds: How Drugs Work, by Ciaran Regan, Wired Magazine, August 2001

Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers, by Daniel Schacter, Wired Magazine, June 2001

Duchamp: A Biography, by Calvin Tomkins, Art & Antiques, December 1996

Conversations with Tom Stoppard, by Mel Gussow, Time Out New York, September 1996

Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt, Salon.com, September 1996

• Review of Accordian Crimes, by E. Annie Proulx, Time Out New York, June 1996

• Review of Cruising Paradise: Tales, by Sam Shepard, Time Out New York, May 1996


selected interviews


• “Questions for Irshad Manji,” The New York Times Magazine, December 2003 (author of The Trouble With Islam: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith)

• “Questions For Jhumpa Lahiri,” The New York Times Magazine, September 2003 (Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake)

• “An Interview with Hunter S. Thompson," Salon.com & The Toronto Star, February 2003

• “Questions For Chuck Palahniuk,” The New York Times Magazine, September 2002 (author of Fight Club and Lullaby)

• “The Man from Neen: A Conversation with Miltos Manetas,” Salon.com, March 2002 (new media artist and founder of the NEEN movement)

• “Flesh, Robots and God: A Conversation With Rodney A. Brooks,” Salon.com, February 2002 (Director of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab and author of Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us)

• “Oldest Living Surrealist Tells All: A Conversation With Dorothea Tanning,” Salon.com, February 2002 (core member of Surrealist movement, painter, poet, wife of Max Ernst and author of Between Lives: An Artist and Her World)

• “A Conversation With Edward O. Wilson,” Salon.com, January 2002 (biologist, Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of The Future of Life)

• “Questions For Gene Simmons,” The New York Times Magazine, December 2001 (musician, tongue exhibitionist, blood-spewer and author of KISS and Make Up)

• “Questions For Wallace Shawn,” The New York Times Magazine, August 2001 (actor and playwright)

• “An Interview with Jeremy Campbell,” unpublished (author of The Liar's Tale: A History of Falsehood)

• “Questions For Julia Sweeney,” The New York Times Magazine, February 1999 (actress and playwright)

• “Questions for Mike Wallace,” The New York Times Magazine, November 1998 (author of Gotham: A History of New York to 1898)

• “Questions For Emily Jenkins,” The New York Times Magazine, August 1998 (author of Tongue First: Adventures in Physical Culture)

• Frank McCourt, The New York Times Magazine ("Money" issue), June 1998 (author of Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis)

• “Questions For Robert Dallek,” The New York Times Magazine, April 1998 (historian and author of a biography on Lyndon Johnson)

• “Questions for T.C. Boyle,” The New York Times Magazine, February 1998 (author of Riven Rock)

• “Talking With Lynne Tillman,” Newsday, February 1998 (author of No Lease on Life)

• “Questions For Claudio Tamburrini,” The New York Times Magazine, February 1998 (professor of “sports philosophy”)

• “Talking With David Gates,” Newsday, January 1998 (Newsweek critic and author of Preston Falls and Jernigan)

• “Questions For Anita Hill,” The New York Times Magazine, September 1997 (author of Speaking Truth to Power)

• “Questions For Tom Morris,” The New York Times Magazine, September 1997 (author of If Aristotle Ran General Motors)

• “Questions For Piet Vroon,” The New York Times Magazine, August 1997 (professor of psychology at Utrecht University, author of Smell: the Secret Seducer)

• “Questions for Thomas Lynch,” The New York Times Magazine, July 1997 (poet, essayist and mortician, author of The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade)

• Robert Bingham, Time Out New York, July 1997 (author of Pure Slaughter Value)

• David Foster Wallace, Time Out New York, January 1997 (author of A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again)

• “Questions for Lisa Carver,” The New York Times Magazine, November 1996 (creator and editor of the 'zine Rollerderby and author of Dancing Queen: A Lusty Look at the American Dream)

• Robert Olen Butler, Time Out New York, November 1996 (author of a A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain and Tabloid Dreams)

• Mona Simpson, Time Out New York, October 1996 (author of A Regular Guy)










































































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