All of these factors, plus many more, confront the index fund manager.

FORBES: Passive Investing Doesn't Exist, But So What?

At any given time, perhaps 15, 000 freshly-minted fashion-design graduates around the world--plus many more uncredentialed dreamers working out of garages, Granny's attic or family rec rooms--have what they think are great ideas and no funding to bring them to market.

FORBES: Fashion's Hard Case

In December, Opel said it would end car production at its Bochum manufacturing plant in Germany in 2016, with the loss of up to 3, 300 jobs at the factory, plus many more with suppliers, while Fiat has said it will cut 1, 500 jobs at its plant in Tychy in Poland.

BBC: Car firms axe jobs as European demand slumps

There are slow passages, and sequences that lean too hard on self-pity, but there are many more moments of crazy transcendence, plus a fart joke or two.

NEWYORKER: Black and Blue

It is hard not to think that anyone who writes more books (70-plus) than many people have read, as well as numberless articles and essays, must be at the controls of a sausage machine, yet the sausages were usually good.

ECONOMIST: Martin Gardner

For seven years, Klinenberg and his research team interviewed more than three hundred people living alone, plus many of the caretakers, planners, and designers who help make that solitary life possible.

NEWYORKER: The Disconnect

Automakers are just showing what they can do with plug-in cars, and the Volt and Leaf, plus new models from Ford, Toyota and Honda will lead many more drivers to switch.

FORBES: Why choose? Meet the family with a Chevy Volt and a Nissan Leaf

The dealer gets that sale, plus a "certified preowned" used car to sell that could yield more profit than many new car transactions.

WSJ: That Car in the Driveway Is Now Worth More