For those of us who like our media theory to have poetic and dramatic flair, the online journal CTheory provides regular satisfaction. In case you missed some of the recent (or older) essays, or just want them all together in a more complete context, the editorial team of Arthur and Marilouise Kroker have brought together a collection of forty-five CTheory texts into one volume. Titled 'Life in the Wires,' the reader explores music, politics, urban space, gender, art and other aspects of contemporary, technologically saturated life. 'Life in the Wires' supplies a range of critically ambivalent feelings about our electrified and networked condition, from Paul Miller's (DJ Spooky) reflections on 'the cinematic image' to a conversation with (media theorist) Manuel De Landa on '1000 years of war.' And like any media theory book worth its weight in wires, the CTheory Reader has a companion website with supplementary materials and a series of streamed events and seminars with many of the journal's regular contributors and editors. - Ryan Griffis