BOOKS

Did you know that books are being pirated? I sure didn't -- I thought piracy was limited to music, movies, and software. But apparently there's a thriving online piracy scene for old-school books. And not just eBooks -- in many cases the books are scan

In the same way Vonnegut repeats “so it goes” in ‘Slaughterhouse-Five,' he repeats “but not me” in this letter.

Update: the entire documentary is now available online for free! A new PBS* documentary, The Botany of Desire, premieres Wednesday night (tonight!) at 8pm on PBS stations throughout the US. It's based on the popular Michael Pollan book of the same name

Vladimir Nabokov, the author of such masterpieces as 'Lolita' and 'Pale Fire,' was also an expert on butterflies who inadvertently helped give Luciano Pavarotti a career boost.

Here are a few facts that you may not have known about the gang in gold and red (and maybe a couple about the set in silver and green).

If you're anything like me, you finish your summer reading list by mid-July. To help curb your end-of-summer reading blues, here are some of the longest-running series of novels in the most popular genres. If you're so inclined, these will keep you busy

Ray Bradbury is trying to save his local library. Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 and zillions of other works is holding a fundraiser to help cash-strapped libraries in Ventura Country, California. In a New York Times profile of Bradbury's library wo

Long-lost artworks by Leonardo da Vinci, Ludwig van Beethoven, and more have resurfaced in some unexpected ways.

The latest issue of mental_floss just hit newsstands. Rosemary Ahern's cover story chronicles 'The 25 Most Influential Books of the Past 25 Years.' This week, we'll be revealing five of those influential books here on the blog. And if this puts you in a s

Back in 2007, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a terrific article for The New Yorker on the history of I.Q. At its core, Gladwell's article is a book review, covering James Flynn's What Is Intelligence? Gladwell discusses a series of surprising facts about I.Q.,

My father went to Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and he recently came across a nice article in Haverford's alumni magazine about Theodor Geisel. Now, Geisel is not a Haverford alum...but his agent Herb Cheyette is. I've collected a few choice bits o

As you settle down with family and friends this holiday season, be prepared: load up your iPhone (or iPod Touch) with applications to get through common holiday disasters. We've got a complete roundup here -- from fun photo moments to actual medical eme