The world’s richest man is studying up on tennis and electrical grids this year. Bill Gates, philanthropist and cofounder of Microsoft, has kept up his…
SUM OF THE FORCES
A first-edition copy of one of the most important texts in physics is expected to sell for over $1 million
A rare copy of Isaac Newton’s seminal work in physics and astronomy is on the move. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, or Newton’s Principia, will be…
GHOST IN THE MACHINES
Jill Stein has dropped her case for a recount in Pennsylvania
After nearly two weeks raising money to recount votes from last month’s US presidential election, Jill Stein will no longer pursue the recount in Pennsylvania.…
HUNKERING DOWN
North Dakota promises it won’t let Standing Rock protesters freeze
Protestors camped in resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline face a harsh winter. But as temperatures dip below zero degrees Fahrenheit in North Dakota, emergency…
PALIN FIRE
“Inconsistent, unfair, illogical”: Sarah Palin’s warning about Donald Trump’s Carrier deal
Sarah Palin is not enthused about Donald Trump’s recent deal for the American worker. The former Alaskan governor’s latest op-ed warns against “crony capitalism” in…
HOOKED ON PHONE-ICS
American teens are getting hooked on fiction by text message
Ella: RU there? I’m in trouble Ella: Pls answer me. Ella: Pls, pls, pls, pls, pls Jacob: I’m here. Whats up? U OK? Ella: No.…
SAVAGE JOURNEY
Hunter S. Thompson’s personal weed strains are coming soon to a joint near you
In Kingdom of Fear, Hunter S. Thompson sucks on a marijuana pipe and disparages himself in front of Anita, his assistant who would become his…
NO GROWN-UPS ALLOWED
“I love that it is about chocolate!” Unedited book reviews by kids for kids
“DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF YOU HATE DESPAIR AND UNHAPPINESS AND DEATH AND FEAR,” writes a book critic about John Boyne’s The Boy at…
READING FIRST
A US college student who grew up with few books returned to her native Afghanistan to build a library
When Sajia Darwish was in elementary school, there weren’t a lot of books lying around her school in Kabul, Afghanistan. Civil war and the reign…
ABOVE GROUND
At this year’s National Book Awards, the US sees its racist past up close
“Wow, the National Book Foundation is woke!” said comedian Larry Wilmore at an award’s ceremony on the night of Nov. 16 in downtown New York…
BERNIE'S BACK
Bernie Sanders’s new book lays out “a blueprint for the future”
The Bern is back. One week after Donald Trump’s surprise Nov. 8 win of the US presidential election, former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders has released…
WORLD READERS
Only 3% of fiction in English is translated, and Amazon is on a mission to change that
Penguin Random House, one of the largest book publishers in the US, put out around 20 new fiction books translated into English this year. Amazon,…
