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Editors' Picks

Flower Power, Redefined

In a new book, Andrew Zuckerman embraces minimalism, capturing 150 colorful blooms on white backdrops

The Gory Details of Artist Katrina van Grouw’s Unfeathered Birds

A British artist, with experience in ornithology, explains how she created anatomical drawings of 200 different species of birds for a new book

What's the Perfect Book to Get Over a Breakup?

Alain de Botton has provided a valuable service: giving reading prescriptions for a "shelf-help" approach to everyday problems

Arts & Culture Beats

When F. Scott Fitzgerald Judged Gatsby By Its Cover

A surprising examination of the original book jacket art to The Great Gatsby
May 14, 2013 | By Jimmy Stamp

Great Gatsby

Will the Real Great Gatsby Please Stand Up?

F. Scott Fitzgerald couldn’t resist putting his own life into his novels, but where’s the line between truth and fiction?
May 07, 2013 | By Sarah Laskow

The Strange Beauty of David Maisel’s Aerial Photographs

A new book shows how the photographer creates startling images of open-pit mines, evaporation ponds and other sites of environmental degradation
April 26, 2013 | By Megan Gambino

Wild Ones

Our Battle Against Extinction, 100 Recipes and More Recent Books Reviewed

Growing up as a poor Astor and the roots of psychiatry
May 2013 | By Chloë Schama

The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker

The True Story of the Battle of Bunker Hill

Nathaniel Philbrick takes on one of the Revolutionary War’s most famous and least understood battles
May 2013 | By Tony Horwitz

paperbacks

The Revolutionary Effect of the Paperback Book

This simple innovation transformed the reading habits of an entire nation
May 2013 | By Clive Thompson

The 64-Square Grid Design of ‘Through the Looking Glass’

The sequel to Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland was designed to be a playable, albeit whimsical chess problem
April 17, 2013 | By Jimmy Stamp

The Story Behind Smithsonian Castle’s Red Sandstone

Author Garrett Peck talks about uncovering the stone's history for his new book, The Smithsonian Castle and the Seneca Quarry
April 09, 2013 | By Paul Bisceglio

Michael Benson’s Awe-Inspiring Views of the Solar System

A photographer painstakingly pieces together raw data collected by spacecraft to produce color-perfect images of the Sun, planets and their many moons
April 02, 2013 | By Megan Gambino

Caleb Cain Marcus’ Photos of Glaciers on a Disappearing Horizon

With a surprisingly light touch, the New York City-based photographer instills feelings of solitude in his images of massive glaciers
March 21, 2013 | By Megan Gambino

Travel books

The Top Ten Most Influential Travel Books

Even before there were armchairs, voracious bookworms traveled the world just by reading
March 20, 2013 | By Tony Perrottet

Cooked A Natural History of Transformation

Michael Pollan, World War II and More Recent Books Out This Month

Read about the transformation of food and what happens to it once its in the digestive system
April 2013 | By Chloë Schama

Snakes in a Frame: Mark Laita’s Stunning Photographs of Slithering Beasts

In his new book, Serpentine, Mark Laita captures the colors, textures and sinuous forms of a variety of snake species
February 26, 2013 | By Megan Gambino

With Biodesign, Life is Not Only the Subject of Art, But the Medium Too

Artists are borrowing from biology to create dazzling "biodesigns" that challenge our aesthetics—and our place in nature
February 21, 2013 | By Megan Gambino

How Gorillas Emerged From Africa and More New and Notable Books

Read the latest on subliminal message, body snatching, and Sheryl Sandberg’s insights on the rise of women
March 2013 | By Chloë Schama

Billy Collins

Billy Collins’ “The Deep”

A new poem from the former poet laureate of the United States
March 2013 | By Billy Collins

Why Was This Man an Outcast Among Anthropologists?

Napoleon Chagnon’s new memoir reignites the firestorm over his study of the Yanomamö
March 2013 | By Joshua Hammer

Flower Power, Redefined

In a new book, Andrew Zuckerman embraces minimalism, capturing 150 colorful blooms on white backdrops
December 12, 2012 | By Ryan R. Reed

How to Tour Jane Austen’s English Countryside

Follow in the footsteps of Mr. Darcy and the Bennet sisters and take in the manors and gardens of rural England
January 25, 2013 | By Nina Fedrizzi

New Books, Reviewed: Animal Emotions, Deconstructing Detroit and the Science of Winning

Taking a closer look at some of the newest releases in non-fiction
February 2013 | By Chloë Schama

Most of What You Think You Know About Grammar Is Wrong

And ending sentences with a preposition is nothing worth worrying about
February 2013 | By Patricia T. O’Conner and Stewart Kellarman

The Gory Details of Artist Katrina van Grouw’s Unfeathered Birds

A British artist, with experience in ornithology, explains how she created anatomical drawings of 200 different species of birds for a new book
January 18, 2013 | By Megan Gambino

Smithsonian.com’s Top Books of 2012

Looking for a reading list for the holidays? Check out our favorite books that we featured on the site this past year
December 13, 2012 | By Megan Gambino

Texas’ New Library Won’t Have Any Books

In San Antonio, an entirely bookless library system
January 14, 2013 | By Colin Schultz

The History of Mapmaking, Jared Diamond’s Latest and More Recent Books Reviewed

Also on the docket, travelling by fire and understanding the concept of “antifragility”
December 2012 | By Chloe Schama

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