(The Soviet-era Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan. Photo by Nogues Alain.)

1) Spiegel surveys the world's radioactive no-go zones.

2) Nicola Twilley goes on a tour of Los Angeles with the Center for Land Use Interpretation.

3) With Geoff Manaugh, Nicola Twilley also went on a safari through fruit-tree-filled backyards, concrete rivers and steep-sided canyons, along the way mapping butterfly waystations, big cat crossings, and feral peacock preening locations.

4) In Be Your Own Souvenir, you take a pose and a 3D printer will spit out a tiny model of you in that pose.

5) Philip Connor's Fire Season is an account of the author's nearly half decade work as a fire lookout in the Gila National Forest. Paris Review has an interview with Connor, and at the interviewer's blog are some extra Q&As. (Via del.icio.us/bldgblog)