In this week’s issue, Natasha Singer reviews “Facebook: The Inside Story,” by Steven Levy. In 1992, William Poundstone wrote for the Book Review about “Artificial Life,” Levy’s book about the science and nuance of life creation in silico.
In James Shapiro’s “Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future,” the historical-tragical constantly muscles out the pastoral-comical.
In his memoir, “Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother,” the director of “Men in Black” and “The Addams Family” tells both hilarious and harrowing stories.
Three new books of short fiction — by Peter Kispert, Vanessa Hua and Leesa Cross-Smith — show characters of all races and sexual orientations deceiving others and themselves.