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Smithsonian’s 2010 Notable Books for Children
In our annual tradition, we present some of the best that children's literature has to offer this year
December 16, 2010 |
By Kathleen Burke
Cooking With the Stars: Celebrity Cookbooks
There was a time when celebrity chefs were rare. When I was growing up, there was Julia Child and...umm...does Famous Amos count?Now celebrity chefdom is easier to achieve than ever. Cordon Bleu training is no longer a prerequisite—a perky (or, in some cases, cranky) personality and a knack for coi...
December 15, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Great Science Books for the Little Ones
How do you raise a miniature scientist? Start with books, of course. Below is a list of my favorite children's science books from the past year (if you're looking for other types of kids' books, Smithsonian.com will have our annual list of notables online later this week):Adventure Beneath the Sea,...
December 13, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
When Zits Meant Food: Learning from Culinary Ephemera
Have you ever eaten zits?Gross, right? But a century ago, the term didn't refer to hormonally-induced epidermal horrors. It was simply a brand of cheese-covered popcorn!According to the new book "Culinary Ephemera: An Illustrated History," by William Woys Weaver, a Philadelphia company called Tasse...
December 02, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Holiday Gift Guide: New Children's Books About Food
Know a kid who's interested in food—eating, growing, or cooking it—or who you wish would be? With the holidays coming up, one of these food-related children's books could be the perfect gift idea.Unless otherwise noted, all titles were published this year. If I've missed something great, please add...
November 30, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Nine Science Books I Wish I'd Had Time to Read This Year
This has been a truly excellent year in science books, and I've written about five of them: Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which seems to be on the top of everyone's "Best of 2010" list; Shell Games by Craig Welch, who delved into the hidden world of wildlife trafficking in ...
November 30, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Rare Science Books up for Auction Next Week
Are you having difficulty figuring out what to buy that special someone? Do you have $600,000 to $800,000 on hand? Well, then you can bid on a first edition of Galileo's Sidereus nuncius (Starry Messenger), which is just one lot in next week's auction "Beautiful Evidence: The Library of Edward Tuft...
November 22, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
From Harold and Maude to Harry Potter: Making Fictional Foods Real
One blogger's quest to recreate the ginger pie from the movie Harold and Maude got us thinking about other fictional foods
November 19, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
The Anatomy of Renaissance Art
The Renaissance may be best known for its artworks: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and “David,” and Da Vinci’s "Mona Lisa" and "Vitruvian Man" have without a doubt shaped the course of art history. But a new exhibit at the National Gallery of Art, “The Body Inside and Out: Anatomical Literature and ...
October 18, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
Rare Copy of Audubon's Birds of America for Sale
John James Audubon's Birds of America holds the record as the world's most expensive book. Not to buy, but to publish. Audubon had to raise more than $115,000 in the early 1800s ($2 million in today's dollars) for a print run of the multi-volume, large (39 x 26 inches) work that contained 435 hand-...
September 10, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Calculus Diaries
Though I was a very good at math in school, I usually found the subject incredibly boring, so much so that I often slept through class (teachers didn't mind as long as I aced the exams). The one exception was a college math course for biologists that gave us real-world problems like figuring out th...
August 31, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Unsolved Case of the "Lost Cyclist"
Author David V. Herlihy discusses his book about Frank Lenz's tragic failed attempt to travel the world by bicycle
August 27, 2010 |
By Megan Gambino
Spilling the Beans on the Origins of Food Idioms
The origins of some food idioms are a piece of cake to figure out; just use your bean. Others sound so bizarre they could make you go bananas. There are so many of them, I would have to be crackers to try to list them all, but here are a few that are particularly nutty: The apple of my eye: Accordi...
August 13, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
A Summer Reading List for Food Lovers
It's a sticky August afternoon, and the family members are facing their third day of vacation in a tiny beach town. The thrill of splashing in the surf and crafting sand castles has faded, replaced by streaks of sunburn around the edges of swimsuits and sandal straps. ("I told you to put lotion eve...
August 05, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Reading in a Whole New Way
As digital screens proliferate and people move from print to pixel, how will the act of reading change?
August 2010 |
By Kevin Kelly
The Disappearing Spoon: True Tales from the Periodic Table
Most of the time we don't think about the periodic table. Individual elements are always important—gold, oxygen, aluminum—but we rarely consider the table as a whole. It just hangs on the wall where it will be consulted from time to time (or perhaps admired for its aesthetics, like the one that han...
July 20, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Tom Swift Turns 100
Tom Swift is turning 100—and he still doesn’t look a day over 18
July 01, 2010 |
By Danny Heitman
Suggested Reading to Accompany our Anniversary Issue
First of all, go and check out Smithsonian's 40th anniversary issue, "40 Things You Need to Know about the Next 40 Years." There's lots of science, nature and technology stories, including ones about electric cars, how a wildlife refuge is dealing with rising sea levels, lab-grown body parts and ho...
June 29, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Hay Fever: Goat Farming and Cheesemaking in Vermont
Do you ever dream of retiring to some sort of quiet, rural paradise to raise a pretty little herd of goats and make gourmet cheese? I'll confess that I have.Well, that idyllic vision got sullied with reality this week when I picked up a new book called "Hay Fever: How Chasing a Dream on a Vermont F...
June 02, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Harper Lee's Novel Achievement
With To Kill a Mockingbird, published 50 years ago, Lee gave America a story for the ages. Just don't ask her about it
June 2010 |
By Charles Leerhsen
