The afterlives of discarded digital devices are just a tiny — if shiny — piece of the much larger story of global recycling. Minter reports that story so masterfully that by the book’s end, I was convinced that the best vantage point from which to view the forces of globalization might well be atop a pile of trash.

Read the rest of “The Afterlives of Discarded Objects: Adam Minter’s ‘Junkyard Planet’” here.

Plus, check out the author’s upcoming events in Los Angeles and London.

Dissident Gardens suggests that if you can overcome what Lethem calls “Boroughphobia,” you might find in Queens the makings of something like Utopia, a word often hard for American tongues to pronounce without irony.

Read Lee Konstantinou’s review, “Outborough Destiny: Jonathan Lethem's Dissident Gardens”.

We are very pleased to announce that Jonathan Lethem's Dissident Gardens is the first selection from Tom’s Book Club! Join today and get your copy of the novel, and a chance to participate in a live online discussion with the author and LARB Editor in Chief Tom Lutz.