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Books

Cowboy boots, like this oversized 40-foot-tall pair in San Antonio, are synonymous with Texas, a state that some say is “like a whole other country.”

Why Every State Should Be More Like Texas

Reporter Erica Grieder sees wisdom in the Lone Star State’s economic model. No verdict on if it has the best barbecue, however

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The Strange Beauty of David Maisel’s Aerial Photographs

A new book shows how the photographer creates startling images of open-pit mines, evaporation ponds and other sites of environmental degradation

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What Modern Art Looks Like As Yummy Dessert

Pastry chef Caitlin Freeman uses inspiration from modern art to whip up cakes, cookies and other desserts

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What Was the First Book Ever Ordered on Amazon.com?

Amazon wasn’t always a multi-billion dollar company. Their first non-internal order came in 1995, and it was a science book

Singer in pillbox hat, 1958

‘I Remember’: An Artist’s Chronicle of What We Wore

In the 1970s, Joe Brainard wrote a book-length poem that paid heed to fashion

Jupiter’s innermost large moon, Io, is extremely volcanic. “If you look closely on the upper left and upper right horizon, you can see eruptions in the process of happening,” says Benson. “We know that at least 400 volcanos are continuously blasting magma into space from Io.” Mosaic composite photograph. Galileo, July 3, 1999.

Michael Benson’s Awe-Inspiring Views of the Solar System

A photographer painstakingly pieces together raw data collected by spacecraft to produce color-perfect images of the Sun, planets and their many moons

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Stop Trying to Live Like a Caveman

Modern humans are doing it all wrong - they eat wrong, they run wrong, they work wrong, they get married wrong. But is the life of cave people really what we should be striving for?

Maybe Cleopatra Didn’t Commit Suicide

Her murder, one author thinks, was covered up behind a veil of propaganda and lies put forth by the Roman Empire

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Nobody Chews Like You Chew

There are a few things that are distinct to every person—her fingerprints, voice, particular way of walking, and, it turns out, the way she chews

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Scientists Published Henrietta Lacks’ Genome Without the Consent of Her Family

Author Rebecca Skloot argues that society is not ready for full genetic disclosures of individuals

Perito Moreno, Plate I, 2010. Patagonia

Caleb Cain Marcus’ Photos of Glaciers on a Disappearing Horizon

With a surprisingly light touch, the New York City-based photographer instills feelings of solitude in his images of massive glaciers

It’s Not Just You: Garfield Is Not Meant to Be Funny

Unlike New Yorker cartoons, in which, you are actually missing the joke, Garfield is in fact not even designed to be funny

Over the course of more than 2,000 years, countless travel books have transformed little known places into popular destinations.

The Top Ten Most Influential Travel Books

Even before there were armchairs, voracious bookworms traveled the world just by reading

Centuries Ago, a Cat Walked Across This Medieval Manuscript

While pawing through a stack of medieval manuscripts from Dubrovnik, Croatia, a student stumbled upon a familiar set of splotches marring the book’s pages

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This Is The Only Known Footage of George Orwell

Scholars had thought that, although he lived in the 1950s, author George Orwell’s mug was never captured on film

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The Stupid Reason the NHL Drafts Older Players First

Take note, coaches: stop listening to Malcolm Gladwell, and start listening to science

An illustration of Moby Dick attacking a whaling ship.

The True-Life Horror That Inspired ‘Moby-Dick’

The whaler Essex was indeed sunk by a whale—and that’s only the beginning

Aphrodite rescuing her son Aeneas, wounded in fight, scene from The Iliad. Work on display in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen.

Geneticists Try to Figure Out When the Illiad Was Published

When was The Iliad actually written? To answer that question, you might turn to a historian or a literary scholar. But geneticists wanted a crack at it

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Snakes in a Frame: Mark Laita’s Stunning Photographs of Slithering Beasts

In his new book, Serpentine, Mark Laita captures the colors, textures and sinuous forms of a variety of snake species

Meals in a Jar: From Pancakes to Baby Back Ribs, Just Add Water

Ready-made meals, good for months on a pantry shelf, work for busy nights, camping trips and power outages

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