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NUTRITION
The Gourmet's Dilemma
Alicia Coffman 6/18/2008 12:00:00 AM
To some it's a dream job--eating gourmet meals for free and then writing about them. But for some food critics, their eyes aren't the only thing that gets wide when they contemplate yet another feast.
THE MILITARY
It’s All About the Rank
Sarah Kliff 6/12/2008 12:00:00 AM
For 25 years Lory Manning lived in an alternate universe. She watched as most of her classmates in 1969 headed to further education, became teachers or homemakers. Manning did something a little different: participated in international negotiations and managed $3 million budgets. "At that time there weren't as many options for women," says Manning. "I wanted to travel, I wanted an adventure, and I wanted to do something where I could get paid just like the men."
BOOKS
Hamlet at the Water Cooler
Kathryn Joyce 5/27/2008 12:00:00 AM
"Random poignancy circa 2:30," reads one of the subheds in Ed Park's new office life novel, "Personal Days." "Is Excel crashing everyone's computer?" Reprising the theme throughout the book, it's the fixtures of work life, particularly the koanlike dialogue boxes that pop up on office computer screens, that provide such incidental profundity and wisdom. "I don't understand," computers tell their operators, or halt employees in their tracks with the poetic-sounding verdict "Invalid Command." Or best of all, to the despairing amusement of the young set of office workers huddling aboard a slowly sinking company ship, is the closing pop-up question of each work week, when they shut off their computers to embark on "modest hopes" for the weekend: "Are you sure you want to quit?"
CAREERS
Working it Out
4/21/2008 12:00:00 AM
Whether we're actually in a recession or not is the subject of debate.
Waging War In The Workplace

Maria Escobedo, 26, was shot at Meridian Oil Inc. in Houston, where she was a secretary. Bruce Flippin, 49, was killed at the John Dewar meatpacking company in Boston, where he was plant manager. Lawyer John Scully, 28, and seven other people were killed at the offices of Pettit & Martin in San Francisco; Scully died shielding another wounded lawyer, his wife. The San Francisco murderer was Gian Luigi Ferri, a failed businessman who blamed lawyers, among others, for his problems, and took two 9-mm semiautomatic pistols up to the 34th floor of a downtown skyscraper to prove his point.
BYTES
Quick Read
John Sparks
The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up By Adrian Gostick and Scott ChristopherAnybody who's ever had to cope day after day with a gloomy workplace will warm to the idea of having more fun on the job. Veteran business-book author Gostick and humorist-actor Christopher provide convincing evidence that a lighthearted work environment improves productivity and lowers employee turnover, too. What they're less successful at is explaining how to create a credible culture of levity in an existing organization. Their real world examples come from too few sources (though you'll learn quite a bit about Canada's Boston Pizza) and it's impos-sible to read advice like "give out plastic handclappers on dead-line day" and "hire a comedian" without envisioning Ricky Gervais's pratfalls on "The Office."