| Malcolm, in the middle | | Best-selling author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell is the ultimate outlier, excelling in istudying and unearthing the hidden patterns in ordinary life that make us what we are | | Trashy art | | Five huge patches of rubbish floating in seas around the world will have their own unofficial national pavilion on the sidelines of the world’s largest non-commercial art fair in Venice last week, thanks to artist Maria Cristina Finucci. | | Snake it, baby | | Tourists have long flocked to the home-turned-museum of former President Nelson Mandela on Vilakazi Street, a lively strip of restaurants, curio sellers and street performers in the South African township of Soweto. Now the area has a growing attraction: big snakes, and lots of them. | | On political fumblings and tissue paper | | Banks have failed, the yen has fallen and Japan’s economy has colla-psed, leading to political turmoil. Its great ally, the US, abandons it. Then comes the final straw: an attack by North Korean guerrillas posing as Korean tourists. | | Words of honour | | The Promise by Lesley Pearse doesn’t live up to its promise of being incredibly “gripping” — but is a fine reflection of whether all is truly fair in love and war | | 48 hours in Madrid | | Rounding up the best of the Spanish capital — the best tapas and churros, high street shopping, the city by night, Hemingway’s favourite haunt and beautiful people | | Great Snakes! | | College student snares record-long Burmese python near Miami | | Down to Earth | | Back on Earth, Canadian astronaut and cyberspace tweeter Chris Hadfield is getting a rough reintroduction to gravity after a five-month stint aboard the International Space Station, the former commander told reporters during a video webcast from Houston. | | Biting the bullet | | Local author Alexander McNabb’sBeirut effortlessly brings to life a Levantine political intrigue in spy thriller form | | Oddities on display | | Get an eyeful of spying equipment and fancy noodles, human disease and potty paraphernalia, at the top 10 quirky museums around the world | |
