4. “The Kauders Case,” McSweeney’s, Issue 8, 2002.
5. “Life During Wartime,” The New Yorker, June 12, 2006.
6. “The Magic Mountain,” The New Yorker, June 8, 2009.
7. “Let There Be What Cannot Be,” published as “Genocide’s Epic Hero” in The New York Times, July 27, 2008.
8. “Dog Lives,” first published as “War Dogs” in Granta, Issue 118, February 2012.
9. “The Book of My Life,” The New Yorker, December 25, 2000.
10. “The Lives of a Flaneur,” first published as “Mapping Home” in The New Yorker, December 5, 2011.
11. “Reasons Why I Do Not Wish to Leave Chicago: An Incomplete, Random List,” first published in Chicago in the Year 2000, ed. Teri Boyd, 3 Book Publishing, 2006.
12. “If God Existed, He’d Be a Solid Midfielder,” Granta, Issue 108, September 2009.
13. “The Lives of Grandmasters,” unpublished.
14. “The Kennel Life,” first published as “In the Doghouse” in Playboy, August 2006.
15. “The Aquarium,” The New Yorker, June 13, 2011.
All the pieces were originally published in somewhat different form and have been revised and edited for this book.