Research is one of my favorite parts of writing a novel. Below are some of the sources that I mined for The Readymade Thief.
Books on Marcel Duchamp:
Duchamp: A Biography by Calvin Tompkins (1996)
Marcel Duchamp: The Afternoon Interviews (Calvin Tompkins 2013)
The Writings of Marcel Duchamp (Michel Sanouillet and Elmer Peterson, eds. 1989)
Marcel Duchamp, Notes (Marcel Duchamp 1983)
Marcel Duchamp, In the Infinitive (Richard Hamilton and Ecke Bonk 1999)
Alchemist of the Avant-Garde: The Case of Marcel Duchamp (John F. Moffitt 2003)
Marcel Duchamp: The Bachelor Stripped Bare (Alice Goldfarb Marquis 2002)
The Duchamp Dictionary (Thomas Girst 2014)
Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp (Pierre Cabanne 1987)
Marcel Duchamp: Manual of Instructions: Étant donnés (Philadelphia Museum of Art 1987)
Marcel Duchamp: Étant donnés (Michael R. Taylor 2009)
Marcel Duchamp: The Box in a Valise (Ecke Bonk 1989)
Books on Science:
The Elegant Universe (Brian Green 2010)
The Holographic Universe (Michael Talbot 1992)
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics (Carlo Rovelli 2016)
Books on Urban Exploration:
Access All Areas: A User’s Guide to the Art of Urban Exploration (Ninjalicious 2005)
Invisible New York: The Hidden Infrastructure of the City (Stanley Greenberg 1998)
Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration (Troy Paiva 2008)
Hidden Cities: My Journey into the Secret World of Urban Exploration (Moses Gates 2013)
Beauty in Decay: The Art of Urban Exploration (RomanyWG 2010)
Books, Miscellaneous:
Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World (Trevor Paglen 2009)
Expedient B & E: Tactics and Techniques for Bypassing Alarms and Defeating Locks (Carl Hammer 1992)
Burglars On The Job: Streetlife and Residential Break-ins (Richard T Wright and Scott Decker 1996)
Websites:
Like much of the book, the defunct Atlas missile silo turned drug lab/rave center has a basis in reality. I first read the story here in Vice magazine.
Even off the dark web, Duchamp has a large web presence. I encourage a lot of free exploration, but found the following websites especially fruitful:
The website on all things Duchamp, the Marcel Duchamp Studies Online Journal Tout-Fait.
If you’re in the market for an original Duchamp, or just want to see what’s out there in terms of works, articles, and exhibitions, check out the Duchamp page on Artsy.
The Marcel Duchamp World Community is also worth checking out.
For a look at the 350K-word treatise on With Hidden Noise (yes, this actually exists!) by California State University Sacramento Art Department Professor Emeritus Kurt von Meier “A Ball of Twine: Marcel Duchamp’s ‘With Hidden Noise.’”
Andrew Stafford’s website “Making Sense of Marcel Duchamp” is one of the most insightful examinations of Duchamp’s work, on or off the web.