MAGAZINES
Martha Stewart parody humorous, instructional

By Dan Kincaid
Arizona Republic

ReadyMade: This mag aimed at twenty- and thirtysomethings is partly a wickedly funny parody of Martha Stewart magazine and partly an instruction manual for creating all kinds of weird and cool things and pursuing unconventional lifestyles. A "readymade," it says, is "any common object that is turned on its head and framed as art or designed for a new function."

French artist Marcel Duchamp, with his urinal transformed into sculpture, is the godfather of the concept. In this first issue, you'll learn how to make things like dandy clocks from squashed soda cans and gears. You'll read how to stuff and mount just like the pros do. You'll meet a "transient artist-farmer-type person," who manages to get along without paying rent or toiling at a "real" job. A hip, fun magazine.

Wired: This month's cover story is an excellent overview of America's dominance in space-based military systems and what that means for the future. Our nation, Bruce Sterling argues has so outclassed its enemies in all modes of traditional warfare that they can hope for military success only by mimicking U.S. space power or trying to cripple it — or by going the route of terrorism. Another interesting piece looks at neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, known for his investigations of bizarre mental conditions ("The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat").

Sacks is rethinking the mysteries of memory, starting with his own. His new book, "Oaxaca Journal" (National Geographic, $20), describes a trip to Mexico to search for rare ferns and, of course, goes into all kinds of other things. This issue of Wired seems more accessible to nontechies than previous ones — or maybe we're just getting smarter.