Contributors
 Letters to the Editor Readers from Paris, New York and Jakarta respond to Topic 3: Cities Remember Magic Eye? The editors explain how to view the cover – and admit that they can’t do it either. From the Editor: Sombody get this man a Ninja Turtle! DAVID HASKELL
 Blips on the Radar T.C. Boyle has made a career out of exposing ludicrous fads, whether it be the health hysteria of the 1900s or the commune craze of the 1970s. Topic sat him down to find out how today stacks up. As it turns out, we're nuttier than ever. T.C. BOYLE
 Building a Better Fad Predicting fads for most people is a pastime – for Jon Berry, it's a profession. Here he shares a cookbook for the next big thing. JON BERRY
 Extreme Market Research Pro-skater Ocean Howell looks back on his career in the eye of the skateboarding storm. Tales from the underbelly of skater-cool. OCEAN HOWELL
 Mali's Hipsters Topic features the work of Malian photographer Malick Sidibé, whose defining images exposed the edges of 1960s Bamako. MALIK SIDIBÉ
 Ghetto Exports According to British author William Shaw, hip-hop was determined not to become a white, suburban fad. How did it fail so spectacularly? WILLIAM SHAW
 Selling the Lama What do you do when your religion makes it into Vogue? Vishvapani suggests what to make of Buddhism-lite. VISHVAPANI
 Inventing Reality The developer of T.V.'s 'Big Brother' sits back to observe his own era in broadcasting. PETER BAZALGETTE
 Adopting Love It's been two decades since Cabbage Patch Kids blanketed America. Historian and enthusiast Ann Wilhite remembers finding a friendin the 1980s' most popular doll. ANN WILHITE
 Love is Everything Brazilian writer Patrícia Melo calls the perfect body the newest worldwide pathology – nowhere more so than Rio. PATRÍCIA MELO Translated from the Portuguese by Cliff Laanders
 All That Glistens The life and times of the shonky Peter Foster. David Fickling reports from the Aussie Gold Coast. DAVID FICKLING
 Burying the Dead The short, strange fad that was Ben Ehrenreich's Grateful Dead. BEN EHRENREICH
 So, You Wanna Be a Rock Star? Industry legend Danny Fields shares what it takes to make it in the music business: know what you like. DANNY FIELDS Interviewed by Brian C. Crocker
 New, Improved Hydrogen And Oxygen Tim Morris reports from Texas on all those bottles – and the future of the water industry. TIM MORRIS
 As Seen on T.V.! Topic features the work of Argentinean photographer Marcos Lopez, whose depictions of today's Buenos Aires reveal a city dancing tango to a country music twang. MARCOS LOPEZ
 The Royal Road to Learning Educational historian Diane Ravitch explores the quest for cutting corners in America's schools. DIANE RAVITCH
 English for Beginners Who knew this language could be so complicated? Simon Elmes deconstructs how we speak today – and predicts what will be gone tomorrow. SIMON ELMES
 Absinthe, Anyone? Today's Ukraine: the land that fads forgot. ANDREI KURKOV Translated from the Russian by Alex Milner
 Nostalgia in a Post-Genocidal Society Peter Dickinson edits Kiev's What's On magazine. To his mind, fads in Ukraine are alive, well – and a little bit disturbing. PETER DICKINSON
 Globalisation on the Ground Noreena Hertz, author, academic and activist, locates the passion for protest. What do you do when your cause becomes a fad? NOREENA HERTZ
 Why Oil Sheiks Love a Good Hummer The battle over America's petroleum addiction. ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
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