As 2012 draws to a close, CJR writers brainstormed the year’s best reads in their beats.
Cooking isn’t creative, and it isn’t easy — Alex Halberstadt on Christopher Kimball’s secret sauce for success
The dead are real — Larissa MacFarquhar explores the imagination of Booker Award-winning novelist Hilary Mantel
Obama’s way — Michael Lewis gets unprecedented access to the most powerful and burdened man in the world
The good wife — Ariel Levy follows Callista Gingrich on the trail during the GOP primary
How many Stephen Colberts are there? — Charles McGrath examines the many-sided comedian and character
The strongest man in the world — Burkhard Bilger profiles Brian Shaw, a strength competitor testing the limits of the human body
King of the cosmos — Carl Zimmer follows Neil deGrasse Tyson to infinity and beyond
The Editors are the staffers of the Columbia Journalism Review.