In May of 2010, a Parisian art auction sold an Alexander Calder mobile entitled "Pour Vilar" (circa early 1950s) for 2.3 million euros, a record sale for a piece by the now famous American sculptor. I begin with this anecdote because it was the first news item to appear in my Google Chrome search today when I entered "minimalism" and "Calder."

Over cocktails a few nights ago, a colleague commented wistfully that she hadn't read a single scholarly book in a specialty other than her own since she entered graduate school in 1995.