Tag: books

The phrase “mad as a hatter” may have originally been a play on words, but the phenomenon was very real.

Today in 1932, the London newspaper The Times published its first edition with a brand new typeface: Times New Roman. And it's been a big deal ever since, even in the computer age.

We’re replaying some of our favorite shows about the printed page and those pages’ creators.

Today in 1940, Life Magazine published a series of photos of a little boy in Liberty County, Georgia - photos that, two decades later, would inspire one of the most famous picture books ever published.

In Iceland, book lovers take part in Jólabókaflóð , which means "the Christmas flood of books." And they're not exaggerating.

For International English Language Day, the story of the most unusual guide to the language ever published, the one called “English As She Is Spoke.”

Today in 1865, the birthday of Warren Harding. His presidency was full of scandals thanks to his so-called friends - if only those friends had been as good to Harding as his dogs had been. 

There’s new research out that suggests that for those trying to eat healthy, bigger is better - at least when it comes to font sizes on parts of the menu.

Today in 1811,  the first known steamboat race takes place on the Hudson River. Yes, a couple centuries ago, racing steamboats was a thing. 

Today in 1931, the birthday of Edward Packard, who along with R.A. Montgomery founded a book series that let millions of young readers pick the ending to the story: Choose Your Own Adventure.

Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” was first published today in 1843. The character of Ebeneezer Scrooge is said to be based on a real life person, though which person it was that inspired the story depends on who’s telling the story.

Today is National Read A Book Day, which reminds us of an article from HowStuffWorks that tries to answer a complicated question: “What is the oldest book in the world?”