Hot Rocks
A scientist’s love of lava
By Sarah Zielinski Monday, December 7, 2015
The Last Volcano: A Man, a Romance, and the Quest to Understand Nature’s Most Magnificent Fury By John Dvorak
Speaking in Tongues
The ancient, tangled roots of modern language
By Michael Upchurch Monday, December 7, 2015
Lingo: Around Europe in Sixty LanguagesBy Gaston Dorren / Written in Stone: A Journey through the Stone Age and the Origins of Modern Language By Christopher Stevens
A Lifetime Spent Bearing Witness
The literary giant who rose from the ashes of a people
By Louis Begley Monday, September 7, 2015
The Complete Works of Primo Levi Edited by Ann Goldstein
Cosmic Art
An inquiry into the scientific significance of elegance
By Verlyn Klinkenborg Monday, September 7, 2015
A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design By Frank Wilczek
Anyone Home?
The centuries-long debate over what resides between our ears
By T. M. Luhrmann Monday, September 7, 2015
Soul Machine: The Invention of the Modern Mind By George Makari
Living Like White People
The disorientation of growing up privileged and black
By Thomas Chatterton Williams Monday, September 7, 2015
Negroland: A Memoir By Margo Jefferson
The Wisdom of the Ages
Looking to the classics to steel yourself against life’s cruelties
By Andrew J. Bacevich Monday, September 7, 2015
The Theater of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today By Bryan Doerries
It Takes a Laboratory
Science is no longer the domain of solitary experimenters
By Sam Kean Monday, June 8, 2015
Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention That Launched the Military-Industrial Complex By Michael Hiltzik
Boldly Going No More
The space shuttle program’s unheralded demise
By Nathalie Lagerfeld Monday, June 8, 2015
Leaving Orbit: Notes From the Last Days of American Spaceflight By Margaret Lazarus Dean
Heart of Semi-Darkness
A writer’s delectable quest for rare flavors
By Tim Carman Thursday, November 7, 2024
Masters of Horror and Magic
The German folklorists who helped build a nation
By Anne Matthews Friday, November 1, 2024
For Want of Touch
The astonishing breadth of our passions
By Diana Goetsch Thursday, September 26, 2024
Imperiled Planet
The ecological havoc we’ve wrought
By Priscilla Long Tuesday, September 3, 2024
The Burning Earth: A Historyby Sunil Amrith
Ground Truth
A story of dirt, dollars, and death
By Steve Yarbrough Tuesday, September 3, 2024
The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippiby Wright Thompson
Insisting on the Positive
A popular historian’s philosophical musings
By Carlin Romano Tuesday, September 3, 2024
On Freedomby Timothy Snyder
A Stranger in the Seven Hills
A refugee’s experience in the Eternal City
By Ingrid D. Rowland Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Roman Year: A Memoirby André Aciman
Mortal Coils
We aren’t alone in facing the inevitable
By Sy Montgomery Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Deathby Susana Monsó
Silent Partner
The union that may have made possible a writer’s late flourishing
By Robert Zaretsky Tuesday, September 3, 2024
A Wilder Shore: The Romantic Odyssey of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevensonby Camille Peri
Schmaltz of Significance
How the first talkie treated the myth of the melting pot