Between these not-too-glossy pages you’ll find our distinct combination of atypical prose, poetry, conversation and artwork. Critic Daniel Mendelsohn and artist David Salle discuss cultivating taste, the lead singers of the Butthole Surfers and The Flaming Lips debate selling out, and marine biologist David Gruber and artist/historian Katherine McLeod explore the legacy of William Beebe and the future of deep sea exploration.

Dan Graham reflects on the Zodiac, Matthew Niederhauser shares photos of ersatz architecture in China, Genesis P-Orridge lets us read h/er journals and Greg Kloehn builds and distributes single-occupancy houses to homeless friends.

Tom McCarthy shares thoughts on his new novel that’s almost about Staten Island and Iain Boal traces the scourge of automobilism. And Devin Troy Strother sexes that rectangle.