Articles tagged as Books | Smithsonian Magazine

Margaret at Stafford House on Cumberland Island, holding her first copy of Fox Eyes, illustrated by Jean Charlot. This story was inspired by her time on Cumberland as a teenager.

The Surprising Ingenuity Behind “Goodnight Moon”

Author Margaret Wise Brown used new theories in childhood education to write the classic children’s book

January 26, 2017

Anger is no match for Patience—no matter how large her sword.

Cool Finds

Here’s What Happens in a “Comic Book” Drawn by Medieval Monks

Psychomachia pits vice against virtue in a battle for human souls

January 26, 2017

Atlas of Eating

On the Dangers of Erotic Truffles

A 19th-century investigation into the power of the aphrodisiac

January 25, 2017

Samuel Clemens often told stories to his children, but only one has survived.

Cool Finds

New Mark Twain Fairy Tale Unearthed

The previously unknown—and unfinished—story was hiding in plain sight

January 25, 2017

Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michael Basquiat won the 2017 Randolph Caldecott Medal.

Meet the 2017 Newbery, Caldecott and Printz award winners

January 23, 2017

This is a pyramidal neuron, so named for the pyramid-shaped body at the center of this drawing, from the cerebral cortex of a human. This outermost layer of the brain integrates information from sensory organs, commands movements and is the hub for higher brain functions, such as consciousness. In his drawing, Cajal gives the branches or dendrites different weights to show how the neuron extends in three-dimensional space. It’s likely that this represents a sort of idealized portrait of a pyramidal neuron, a synthesis of many observations.

Art Meets Science

Revel in These Wondrous Drawings by the Father of Neuroscience

A new book and exhibition pay homage to Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s impressive powers of observation

January 23, 2017

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden with Guest Librarian Daliyah Marie Arana

Daliyah Maria Arana has read more than 1,000 books

January 13, 2017

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a specially engraved fiver could bestow fortune upon four lucky Brits.

Cool Finds

Strike It Rich (Without Marrying for Money) by Finding Hidden Jane Austen Art

A British artist has sparked a nationwide scavenger hunt for £5 notes worth thousands

January 3, 2017

The Institute for Contemporary History's reissued version of Mein Kampf is an anonymous-looking doorstop packed with footnotes and historical context.

Germany’s Controversial New Version of ‘Mein Kampf’ Is Now a Bestseller

Once kept under lock and key, the book is now available in a critical edition

January 3, 2017

If Isaac Asimov Had Named The Smartphone, He Might Have Called It The “Pocket Computer Mark II”

The sci-fi author correctly predicted a number of innovations that have come to pass

January 2, 2017

The Top History Books of 2016

Here are some of the best titles to hit shelves this past year

December 30, 2016

The old county courthouse in Monroeville, Alabama will soon be just one of the town's many To Kill a Mockingbird-themed attractions.

Monroeville, Alabama, could change with a proposed Harper Lee Trail

December 29, 2016

Hamblin's new book uses illustrations to help explain how the human body works—and sometimes doesn't work.

The Millennial’s Doctor Releases a Handbook on Bodies

Radiologist and Atlantic editor James Hamblin provides the answers we’d hear “If Our Bodies Could Talk”

December 22, 2016

An anonymous buyer paid triple the estimated sale price for this first-edition copy

December 16, 2016

Margaret Harwood sits on the floor for this posed tableau taken on May 19, 1925. Harvia Wilson is at far left, sharing a table with Annie Cannon (too busy to look up) and Antonia Maury (left foreground). The woman at the drafting table is Cecilia Payne.

Women Who Shaped History

In “The Glass Universe,” Dava Sobel Brings the Women ‘Computers’ of Harvard Observatory to Light

Women are at the center of a new book that delights not in isolated genius, but in collaboration and cooperation

December 14, 2016

The 10 Best Travel Books to Give This Season

Satisfy your giftee’s wanderlust with these travel-themed books

December 13, 2016

The Best Books About Innovation of 2016

If you have a lover of big ideas on your holiday shopping list, consider these thought-provoking titles published this year

December 7, 2016

The Best Books About Science of 2016

Take a journey to the edge of human knowledge and beyond with one of these mind-boggling page-turners

December 2, 2016

Art Meets Science

The Best “Art Meets Science” Books of 2016

Eight sumptuous books from the past year that meet at the intersection of science and art

December 2, 2016

The Best Books About Food of 2016

Looking for the perfect gift for the food lover in your life? Any of these suggestions will hit the spot

December 1, 2016