Books

Some members of the Bloomsbury Group, including Huxley. Left to right: Lady Ottoline Morrell, Mrs. Aldous Huxley, Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant, and Vanessa Bell.

How Aldous Huxley, 118 Today, Predicted the Present Far More Accurately than George Orwell

One of the pillars of science fiction would have turned 118 today

An interactive game from 1946 featuring Sherlock’s signature deerstalker cap and magnifying glass

The Deerstalker: Where Sherlock Holmes’ Popular Image Came From

The literary detective's hunting cap and cape came not so much from the books' author as from their illustrators

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Great Books—and the Best Places to Read Them

Reading while traveling can serve as a sensory supplement to one's surrounding environment. Here are some of my favorite books and where to read them

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The Mystery of 221B Baker Street

Our series on Design and Sherlock Holmes begins with an investigation into the location of the famous detective's London flat

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The Swimsuit Series, Part 4: A Competitive Swimmer’s Musings

In Leanne Shapton's Swimming Studies "Bathing" chapter, there's a story behind every suit

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Round 1 of the Dinosaurs vs Aliens Throwdown

Does the first issue of Dinosaurs vs Aliens live up to the hype?

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Packing List Series, Part 1: Joan Didion

In 1979, "The White Album" gave smart women a straightforward guide to what to bring on a trip

Countess Markievicz in uniform with a gun, circa 1915

Daughters of Wealth, Sisters in Revolt

Gore-Booth sisters, Constance and Eva, forsook their places amid Ireland's Protestant gentry to fight for the rights of the disenfranchised and the poor

Monticello’s kitchen

Meet Edith and Fanny, Thomas Jefferson’s Enslaved Master Chefs

Monticello research historian Leni Sorensen offers an impression of what life was like for these early White House chefs

Makana Mountain, Honolulu

Flower Children on the North Shore of Kauai

In the late 1960s, a gorgeous stretch of beach in Ha’ena State Park was the site of a hippy haven called Taylor Camp

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What if Newton’s Principia Mathematica, Published Today, Had Been in Comic Sans?

The rage over CERN's font choice drives the question: How would the world have reacted to Newton's world-changing tome had Comic Sans existed at the time?

Dust jacket of the book Mein Kampf, written by Adolf Hitler.

Germans un-Kampf-ortable With Reissue of Hitler’s Tome

Starting in 2015, Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf will once again be available to German readers

Laura Ingalls Wilder

‘Little House on the Prairie’ Author’s Autobiography Published for First Time Ever

Blum visited Facebook’s new data center in Prineville, Oregon, among other places.

Have You Ever Wondered How the Internet Works?

Andrew Blum, author of the new book "Tubes," spent two years exploring the physical constructions around the world that enable the Internet to exist

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Wearing Wool, All Summer Long

Layered, corseted summer garments kept women proper and fashionable, if not cool

America’s Other (Lady) Audubon

Benjamin Walker as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Movie Mash-ups That Beat Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Mixing movie genres, from Abbott and Costello to SCTV

While grotesque, the faces in Louis-Leopold Boilly’s The Grimaces (1823) were carefully studied from life. The figure with a twisted mouth at the upper left is a self-portrait.

A Serious Look at Funny Faces

A history of caricatures exposes the inside jokes

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A Taste of Edible Feces

Ambergris, the subject of a new book, "is aromatic—both woody and floral. The smell reminds me of leaf litter on a forest floor."

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The Peas that Smelled the Leaky Pipe

In 1901, a 17-year-old Russian discovered the gas that tells fruits to ripen

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