Literary Lives An interview with artist Edward Sorel and a gallery of images (featuring the story of Tolstoy’s odd life) from his new book of illustrated—and unflattering—biographies of canonized authors.

Reality Check When a critic slams Bravo’s new take on Battle of the Network Stars, our writer remembers what made the first one worth a do-over. As it turns out, while the show could be remade, it could hardly be revived.

Birnbaum v. Brian Greene Living in three dimensions can be hard enough, but ten? More than ten? Robert Birnbaum engages physicist and author Brian Greene in a fascinating conversation about string theory, science writing, and the type of nightmares that haunt contemporary physicists.

Roman Palimpsest Italy is a giant archaeological dig, endlessly plundered, built upon, defiled and revered. It’s also covered with grafitti, with lots of misspellings. A report from our correspondent in Rome.