“He’d gotten hold of this notion that one times one doesn’t equal one, but two. He began writing down his logic, in a language of his own devising that he calls Terryology. He wrote forward and backward, with both his right and left hands, sometimes using symbols he made up that look foreign, if not alien, to keep his ideas secret until they could be patented.”

How the prolific crime novelist did his work.

“I love stand-ups, and I feel it’s the one thing I know about that I could actually judge, besides people’s morals.”

A long talk with Willie Nelson about pot.

The longtime editor of the London Review of Books on editing, the “fussed” people on Twitter, and “preferential treament” for women.

The aftereffects of youthful escapes into movie houses.

Behind the scenes with the creator of Black-ish.

“I probably am mellowing. I’m happy about that. I was a pretty angry young man, but if I were angry now, it’d be like, What the fuck is my problem? I’ve got a really terrific life. It’s so rare to be an artist in my position.”

Memories of living with the writer Andrew Lytle late in his life.

A culture war is raging between the people diversifying science fiction and the men who’d like to roll that back.

The 52-year-old designer finds himself at a crossroads.

Tracking down the very best in Grateful Dead concert concessions.

The life and politics of Joan Didion.

Catching up with N.W.A’s controversial former manager.

“Richard Williams raised her to go to war with the world. Post-tennis, she plans to live in it.”

The poet died when he was hit by a car in 1965. Everything else about his demise is a mystery.

An accidental evening with Yeats, in the spring of 1937.

She was an overnight YouTube success. Then she tried to make a TV show.

He’s got millions of followers on Vine. He’s got sponsors paying him tens of thousands to promote their products. He’s got a vanity license plate that says “AYYYYYYY.” It’s not enough.

Being a Muslim-American actor often means being really good at yelling “Allahu Akbar!” before someone kills you.

The former Van Halen front man has actually made more money from booze and food than from music.

Inside the cutthroat world of competitive bagpiping.

Looking to Nietzsche for self-help.

The baseball game that launched a career in fiction.

The man who gets all the superhero scoops in Hollywood.