Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?
For all the connectivity of the social- media age, research suggests that we have never been lonelier. A report on what this epidemic is doing to our bodies, our souls, and our society.
May 2012
In This Issue
How Facebook may be making us lonely, the genius of Kanye West, Muammar Qaddafi's grieving son, a profile of an iconoclastic video game inventor, and more
Features
The Most Dangerous Gamer
The video-game developer Jonathan Blow is his industry’s harshest critic. In trying to prove the artistic capacity of his medium, Blow may cement his legacy—or end his career.
Six Rules for Dining Out
How a frugal economist finds the perfect lunch
How to Make a Hollywood Hit
Charting the new globe-trotting science of moviemaking
Kanye West, American Mozart
Intense and emotional, the hip-hop superstar has become a national joke. Could a concert tour with Jay-Z, his preternaturally controlled friend and rival, offer redemption—or disaster?
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Can the Tea Party Take Japan?
Tokyo conservatives look westward for inspiration.
Darcy Courteau Alaska by Dogsled
A journey through the wilderness renews friendship and invites solitude.
Brian Mockenhaupt The Army Bands of Afghanistan
The United States is hoping to leave the country with a fully functioning military. That includes training musicians who can sound "like sixth-grade band class."
©2012 Michael Christopher Brown Qaddafi’s Child
Bad tidings reach the despot's son Saadi.
James Sturz Iron Lungs and Steely Nerves
Off the Kona Coast of Hawaii, a diving enthusiast learns to plunge 100 feet on a single gulp of air.
Siggi Eggertsson The Data-Driven Parent
Will statistical analytics make for healthier, happier babies—or more-anxious adults?
Columns
Zohar Lazar Why You Can’t Get a Taxi
And how an upstart company may change that
Barry Brecheisen/WireImage/Getty The Filthy Morality of Louis C.K.
How the comedian became America’s unlikely conscience
Books
Alex Nabaum The Art of Fielding: A Swing and a Miss
Why the latest hyped-up work of staggering genius strikes out
Sylvia Salmi/Bettmann/CORBIS Critiquing the Critic
Essayist Dwight Macdonald had a rhythmic voice and "a poet's eye for detail."
Roger Wood/Corbis Cover to Cover
Richard Diebenkorn’s vision of California; Sir Walter Raleigh gets his due; stylish ghost stories; and more
Editor's Note
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Brand
Social media is turning self-promotion into a full-time, alienating preoccupation.
Letters
Letters to the editor
Responses and reverberations
Gallery
Poetry
Advice
Nishant Choksi What’s Your Problem?
How to get a beard like Ben Bernanke’s, and other advice
