Since its launch in late 2000, Cabinetmagazine has become a touchstone for a certain approach to understanding culture, one that shuns orthodox distinctions--high/low, serious/humorous, professional/amateur--in favor of a commitment to the idea that all objects, practices and discourses can, if read against the grain, teach us something important about the world. Its hybrid sensibility merges the visually engaging style of an arts periodical, the exuberance of a fanzine and the in-depth exploration of a scholarly journal to create a sourcebook of ideas for an international audience of readers, from artists and designers to scientists, philosophers and historians. Using essays, interviews and artist projects to present a variety of topics in language accessible to the non-specialist, Cabinethas aimed to encourage a new culture of curiosity. This anthology brings together some of the most interesting successes, and a few instructive failures, published in the first 40 issues of Cabinet, virtually all of which are sold out, along with essays specially commissioned for the volume. It includes texts and artist projects by Francis Alÿs, Jonathan Ames, Janine Antoni, Barbara M. Benedict, Daniel Birnbaum, D. Graham Burnett, Francis Cape, Anne Carson, Paul Collins, Lorraine Daston, Moyra Davey, Mark Dery, Brian Dillon, Jeff Dolven, Spencer Finch, Douglas Gordon, Anthony Grafton, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Rachel Harrison, Shelley Jackson, Jonathan Lethem, Virgil Marti, Albert Mobilio, Vik Muniz, Alexander Nagel, Matthew Ritchie, Daniel Rosenberg, Alexandre Singh, Jane South, Christopher Turner, Marina Warner and many others.