The Millions has just posted a really juicy spreadsheet that a teacher named Frank Kovarik sent in. It’s got basic information on every short story that has appeared in The New Yorker since 2003. I salute Kovarik for his industry and public-spiritedness! I also use Excel to make sense of The Complete New Yorker’s vastness. Indeed, I think those two just might be the new PB&J, the new franks and beans, the new vodka and tonic. It’s possible I overstate.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this data, but I hope that Kovarik elucidates the meaning of the “Rating” column. I suspect it refers to his own personal opinion of the story, on a scale from 1 to 10. If that guess is correct, he sure doesn’t like Roberto Bolaño!

One aspect of this information that has already gotten some attention is the statistics on gender. Obviously, The Complete New Yorker permits comparison across eras, so that’s something I’d like to look into soon. —Martin Schneider