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Books

H.G. Wells was one of the first science fiction writers.

The Many Futuristic Predictions of H.G. Wells That Came True

Born 150 years ago, H.G. Wells predicted, and inspired, inventions from the laser to email

Oscar Wilde spent two years in what was then called Reading Gaol.

Cool Finds

A British Jail Is Paying Artistic Tribute to Oscar Wilde, its Most Famous Inmate

Patti Smith, Ai Weiwei and others envision what it’s like to be Inside

George Richmond made this chalk portrait of Brontë when she was 34 years old.

Cool Finds

Visit the Manuscript of ‘Jane Eyre’ in New York

The handwritten novel is in the United States for the first time—along with an exhibition of artifacts from Charlotte Brontë’s brief and brilliant life

For sale: a home with a bookish past.

Cool Finds

You Could Own F. Scott Fitzgerald’s House

Live in the Victorian rowhouse where a career was born

A new imaging system could help people to read books without touching them.

New Research

This Camera Uses Radiation to Read Closed Books

No need to open a book to read past its cover

Cool Finds

Four Finds from University of Kansas’ Collection of Radical Zines

The university’s Solidarity! Radical Library boasts a collection of almost 1,000 alternative papers

Trending Today

Here’s How the Oxford English Dictionary Chooses New Words

“YOLO,” “uptalk” and “gender-fluid” have all made the cut

The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries

Even Napoleon Had an Unpublished Manuscript, and Now It’s up for Auction

His handwritten novella captures his feelings toward love at age 26

Celebrate 50 Years of International Literacy Day With the British Library

Butterflies, rabbits and Shakespeare: there’s something for everybody

It's alive!

Trending Today

One in Four Americans Didn’t Read a Book Last Year

But don’t mourn the death of the printed word just yet

If your book has a stamp like this, it's probably way overdue.

Trending Today

Alabama Library Plans to Enforce Strict Overdue Book Ordinance

You could face a fine or even spend a night in jail for keeping books too long

The plot thickens...

Could You Solve the Case of the Missing Mystery Heirs?

Are you related to Clifton Robbins? You could receive royalties from his 21st-century publisher

People sit on a roof waiting to be rescued after Hurricane Katrina

Eleven Years After Katrina, What Lessons Can We Learn Before the Next Disaster Strikes?

Author and playwright John Biguenet offers his thoughts on the narrative of destruction

Cool Finds

Ancient Egyptian Stories Will Be Published in English for the First Time

Translated from hieroglyphics on monuments, tombs and papyri, the book will present tales few outside of academia have read

Publisher Set to Release Exact Replicas of the World’s Most Mysterious Manuscript

There will be 898 copies made of the coded Voynich Manuscript, which has stumped scholars for over a century

Is it disrespectful to sell a literary great’s remains—or is the stunt worthy of Capote himself?

Trending Today

Love Truman Capote? Buy His Ashes

Is the sale of Capote’s earthy remains a gauche publicity stunt or an act worthy of the audacious author?

Just a handful of key animals—mostly charismatic megafauna and a few economically important species—make up the bulk of conservation research efforts.

Scientists Know They Should Really Study Important Bugs but OMG a Baby Cheetah

In conservation science, the cutest animals still get all the attention

Book carts can already get out of control quickly, so careening them along a twisty course was treacherous indeed.

Cool Finds

Librarians Have an Olympics, Too

Brains met brawn in a bookish competition for the ages

As if you needed another reason to stop what you're doing and go back to that novel.

New Research

Bookworms, Rejoice: You May Live Longer

In a new study, readers showed “a survival advantage” over those who don’t ever crack open a book

Winnie the Pooh has got new stitches, a fluffier butt and a renewed spot in the New York Public Library.

Cool Finds

Original Pooh Bear Gets Makeover, Returns to New York Public Library

Winnie and his friends are clean, fluffy and filled with stories

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