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Books

Charles Dickens, seen at his desk in 1858

Charles Dickens Museum Acquires Trove of Author’s Unpublished Letters

The London museum recently purchased more than 300 literary artifacts assembled by a private collector in the U.S.

Dickens’ preferred place of burial—his Plan A—was “in the small graveyard under Rochester Castle wall, or in the little churches of Cobham or Shorne,” which were all near his country home.

Even in Death, Charles Dickens Left Behind a Riveting Tale of Deceit

New research unravels the scheme to bury the Victorian writer in Westminster Abbey—against his wishes

Hartmann Schedel, The Nuremberg Chronicle (Anton Koberger, for Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kamermaister), 1493

Education During Coronavirus

One Hundred Museums Transformed Their Collections Into Free Coloring Pages

This year’s #ColorOurCollections campaign features everything from medical drawings to zany 1920s advertisements for butter

The Landsdowne portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart

A New Book About George Washington Breaks All the Rules on How to Write About George Washington

Alexis Coe’s cheeky biography of the first president pulls no punches

The beloved "Queen of Suspense" died Friday at age 92.

Mary Higgins Clark, Mystery Novelist Dubbed ‘Queen of Suspense,’ Dies at 92

Today, more than 100 million copies of her books are in print in the United States alone

Gallup found that the youngest age bracket—covering 18- to 29-year-olds—visited the library the most, possibly because this group included college students.

Americans Went to the Library More Often Than the Movies in 2019

A new Gallup poll suggests that even in the digital age, libraries remain an important fixture in communities across the country

Christopher Tolkien at Keble College, Oxford, in 1992

Christopher Tolkien, Son of J.R.R. Tolkien and ‘First Scholar’ of Middle-Earth, Dies at 95

Following his father’s death in 1973, Christopher began editing and publishing the “Lord of the Rings” author’s unseen writings

This 404-year-old Geneva Bible was one of more than 300 artifacts stolen from Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Library over a two-decade period.

Ex-Librarian and Bookseller Plead Guilty to Stealing Rare Texts Worth $8 Million From Pennsylvania Library

Greg Priore and John Schulman stole and resold hundreds of rare texts over a 25-year period

The top ten include To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hungry Caterpillar and The Cat in the Hat.

Trending Today

New York Public Library Announces Its Most Borrowed Books of All Time

The list, dominated by children’s literature, spans 125 years of reading

Left, part of the U.S. Capitol's north wing after a M19 bomb damaged it in 1983. Right, an image from a sympathetic pamphlet reading "Resistance is not a Crime! Stop the Political Show Trial!" showing core members of M19 (left to right, Alan Berkman, Tim Blunk, Susan Rosenberg, Linda Sue Evans, Marilyn Buck, Laura Whitehorn) in prison.

In the 1980s, a Far-Left, Female-Led Domestic Terrorism Group Bombed the U.S. Capitol

Historian William Rosenau investigates the May 19th Communist Organization in a new book about the little-known militant group

The floor of one of the coffins of Gua, a physician of the governor Djehutyhotep. The paintings, dated to 1795 B.C., show the “two ways”—land and sea—that the dead could use to navigate the afterlife. An even older “Book of Two Ways” has now been unearthed.

Cool Finds

4,000-Year-Old Guide to the Ancient Egyptian Underworld May Be Oldest Illustrated ‘Book’

Archaeologists recovered the remnants of an ancient “Book of Two Ways” from a sarcophagus

The 1966 Honda CB77, or Super Hawk, that Robert Pirsig rode on his 1968 trip from Minnesota to California that inspired the book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

The Cycle From ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ Comes to the Smithsonian

The 1966 Honda Super Hawk featured in Robert Pirsig’s book on values was recently acquired by the National Museum of American History

The Ten Best Science Books of 2019

New titles explore the workings of the human body, the lives of animals big and small, the past and future of planet earth and how it’s all connected

The Ten Best Children’s Books of 2019

This year’s top titles deliver strange animals, mouth-watering foods and biographies of unsung heroes

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Gift Guides

The Best Books of 2019

In our efforts to increase and diffuse knowledge, we highly recommend these 65 titles released this year

Smithsonian Scholars Pick Their Favorite Books of 2019

Reading proved a bedrock in a year that saw a new Smithsonian secretary and celebrations of dinosaurs, Apollo 11 and women’s history

The Ten Best Books About Food of 2019

These titles are bound to satisfy your cravings for delicious dishes and food knowledge

Purdue University’s INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering works with pre-school, school-age, college undergrads, engineers and parents to test and rate science- and tech-themed products.

The Ten Best STEM Toys to Give as Gifts in 2019

Stretch young learners’ minds with everything from card games to robotic spheres

“The guide I have spoken of is the only one we have had yet who knew anything,” Twain reported in the Venice chapter of the book.

The Museum Tour Guide Who Shaped Mark Twain’s Views on Race

While traveling in Venice for what would be his best-selling memoir, the author’s encounter with an African-American art expert forever changed his writing

The Ten Best History Books of 2019

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and help explain how we got to where we are today

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