Editors' Picks

The Top Ten Most Influential Travel Books

Even before there were armchairs, voracious bookworms traveled the world just by reading

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

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

Arts & Culture Beats

Look Up! Venus, Jupiter and Mercury Conjoin this Evening

Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke, authors of "Your Ticket to the Universe," point out a few wonders of the cosmos
May 28, 2013 | By Paul Bisceglio

Also out in June: the math of life and the lives of astronauts’ wives
May 2013 | By Chloë Schama

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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