Books
- Explore more »
The Full Brontë
The British countryside is home to the real sites behind Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and other works by the literary sisters
September 03, 2009 |
By William Ecenbarger
The Other Black Gold
Can you name a substance that comes from the earth, is refined by heat, and is used daily by millions of people worldwide? Hint: It's a black liquid.Nope, not oil. Try what is often called the world's second-most valuable commodity*—coffee.Collectively, we drink four billion cups of coffee a year, ...
September 01, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Death from the Skies!
How will the world end? When Hollywood answers that question, the result is often terrifying but completely unrealistic. But the realms of reality can be even scarier than fiction, as astronomer Phil Plait deftly illustrates in Death from the Skies!, which comes out in paperback this week.Each chap...
August 24, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Beach Reading for Food Nerds
It's August, which means many of you lucky bums beloved readers are off lounging in beach chairs and hammocks and such. In case all the actual eating and drinking that usually comes with vacation isn't enough to satisfy your appetite, here are some good food-themed books to digest.We've written abo...
August 18, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Hunger for Freedom: Food in the Life of Nelson Mandela
Perhaps no world leader's eating habits have been more scrutinized than Barack Obama's. The guy can't bring home a bag of burgers without making the evening news.But imagine having an entire book written about what you ate throughout your life. That's what food writer Anna Trapido has done with Hun...
July 27, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
The Apollo 11 Owners’ Workshop Manual
If you wanted to replace the muffler on your Ford Mustang, you might logically turn to your handy copy of the Haynes Repair Manual. If you wanted to install a new space sextant in the Apollo 11 Command Module, you wouldn’t turn to the new Haynes Owners’ Workshop Manual, but you would have such a go...
July 16, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Land of the Lost Food Traditions, Part I -- the Northeast
There was a time in America when you might head to the local luncheonette for a bowl of soup and a root beer float, and the counterperson would shout your order to the cook, asking for a "bellywash and a black cow." Or, if you lived in Georgia, you and your friends might get together for a Coca-Col...
July 07, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Did Cooking Make Us Human?
The 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth has prompted a lot of reflection this year on how our understanding of evolution has progressed since the introduction of his theory. One persistent question has been how, and why, humans came to be so different from our primate ancestors. What is it ...
June 22, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
A Brief History of Chewing Gum
Gum is one of those things we tend to take for granted. Whether we chew it or not, most of us deal with it on a daily basis. It's the stuff kids smack and pop in public, or the secret weapon against garlic breath we keep stashed in our purses. It's the goo that makes us grimace on sidewalks.But hav...
June 16, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
The History of Spices
I attended a Smithsonian Resident Associates lecture this week by Fred Czarra, author of the new book, "Spices: A Global History." I can't say I came away with a clear overview of the global spice trade, but I did gain a sprinkling of loosely connected facts. I'll pass them on to you, in case it co...
May 15, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Wicked Plants (and Fungi)
How could I resist a book with the title Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities? This small, elegant volume by Amy Stewart packs in a ton of information on plants that have been used to murder or to intoxicate, some that can inflict pain or cause hallu...
May 14, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Become a Mad Scientist
If you ever meet Theo Gray, you’ll realize that the name “mad scientist” is probably a good description. He has serious credentials (he co-founded the company that produces the ever-useful Mathematica computer program), but his Wooden Periodic Table Table (for which he won an Ig Nobel Prize in Chem...
May 04, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Poetry on the Menu
April is National Poetry Month (it's also International Cesarean Awareness Month and School Library Media Month, but I couldn't find the food angles on those), and the literary food journal Alimentum is celebrating by distributing "menupoems" to participating restaurants in New York and a smatterin...
April 24, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Food Matters on Earth Day
Lately I'm reading a book called "Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating," by Mark Bittman (a.k.a. NY Times' "The Minimalist"), and Earth Day seems like the perfect time to tell you about it.Bittman's thesis is simple but sobering: What you choose to put on your plate has a direct impact on the...
April 22, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
All You Ever Wanted to Know about Chocolate, Volume One
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Howard-Yana Shapiro, the global director of plant sciences and external research for Mars, Incorporated, the world's largest chocolate company (and largest pet food company, but try not to mix the two).Shapiro co-edited a new book called "Chocolate: Hist...
April 15, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Cooking With the Bible
If you've ever wondered, What would Jesus eat?—or Moses or Esau, for that matter—then the cookbook-cum-hermeneutical text Cooking with the Bible: Biblical Food, Feasts, and Lore will enlighten you, or at least offer an informed guess.Written by Rayner W. Hesse, Jr., an Episcopal priest, and Anthony...
April 09, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
A Feast for the Eyes, if not the Stomach
Ever order a burger or some other food that looked mouth-watering and perfect in the advertisement, only to be disappointed by the sad, disheveled pile of slop you were presented? It makes you wonder why the real thing can’t look as good as the picture.
Well, it could, if you were willing to wait ...
March 05, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Where Our Food Comes From
I just finished reading a new book by the prolific Gary Paul Nabhan, whose resume astounds me: He landed a half-million-dollar MacArthur Fellowship (aka "genius grant") early in his career, and has written some 30 books since then, in addition to several teaching gigs and founding a movement or two...
March 02, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Evolution Began With a Second Helping of Beef Collops (Maybe)
It's Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday next Thursday, and the books are streaming out of publishing houses like so many startled pigeons. Nestled in among all the Beagles, giant tortoises, finches, vegetable mould, and barnacles arrives a volume seemingly written with the Food&Thinker in mind, a ...
February 04, 2009 |
By Hugh Powell
Book Worth a Look: The Devil's Food Dictionary
Last month, I mentioned a funny post on a blog called The Ethicurean, and said I hoped to read the author's book someday soon. And voila! Within days, a copy of Barry Foy's The Devil's Food Dictionary appeared on my desk. (On the off-chance that magic trick will work again...hey, I also hope to att...
January 08, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
