This mind-set was typical of the engineers and technocrats who disproportionately made up the extremist branch of Salafism, a school of thought intent on returning Islam to the idealized early days of the religion.

NEWYORKER: The Rebellion Within

Detectives with Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism branch spent part of Sunday interviewing Michael Rimmer, a former high school teacher who described Abdulmutallab as a "very devout" Muslim who had once expressed sympathy for Afghanistan's Taliban insurgency during a classroom discussion.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

His base in Yvelines, a suburb of Paris, was an industrial-sized site incorporating a school where, on any day, 400 working chefs would be retraining in every branch of cookery.

ECONOMIST: Gaston Len?tre

"New technology doesn't tend to substitute for branch banking but to complement it, " says Charles Calomiris, a professor at Columbia University's business school.

FORBES: Money & Investing