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11 Early Scathing Reviews of Works Now Considered Masterpieces

Many pioneering artists have endured abuse from critics and naysayers. But once in a blue moon, time brings acceptance and acclaim, making those early detractors look silly to future generations. Check out how the following works—whose ‘classic’ status now seems self-evident—were once butchered by the Simon Cowells of... READ ON

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What We Learned from 5 Million Books

In this fourteen-minute TEDxBoston Talk, uber-geeks Erez Lieberman Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel talk about what they've learned from processing 5 million books (or 500 billion words) via the Google Ngram Viewer. This tool uses text scanned from books to find specific terms and phrases, so you can figure out historical patterns of language usage. This may sound really geeky, and it is, but it's presented in a really sweet way. On stage we have two guys who are like us -- geeks -- sharing some fun... READ ON

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Fun Facts About the 11 "Greatest Books for Kids"

Scholastic's Parent & Child magazine recently released a list of the 100 Greatest Books for Kids. Spanning a variety of genres and target ages, the editors made the selections from a population of around 500 submissions from literacy experts and "mommy bloggers." Here are the top 11 along with some flossy tidbits about each: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (#11) The best-selling book in the top 11, Anne has sold more than 50 million copies and has been translated into 20 different languages.... READ ON

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7 Children's Books Written in Response to Other Books

Some authors write books because they have a way with words. Other people write books because they have a story they want to share with the world. And a select group of individuals write books mostly to spite the author of another book. These books were written in response to another book, some angrily and some lovingly (mostly). 1.... READ ON

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John Green and Ransom Riggs: Best Sellers Together at Last

mental_floss has a talent for producing spectacularly successful writers. And no, I'm not just talking about my own immense wealth and power*. No, dear readers, I'm referring to Ransom Riggs and John Green, two mental_floss writers who currently hold the #2 and #1 spots respectively on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Because they're both writing for a Young Adult audience, their particular list is "Children's Chapter Books" (how quaint), and Ransom's haunting book Miss Peregrine's Home for... READ ON

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10 Excellent Bookstore Cats

Not all bookstores have cats: the big chains don't have cats, and some mom and pop stores keep their cats at home, so if you are allergic to cats, you can still find a place to browse for reading material. But you'll find resident cats in many independent bookstores because they are nice to curl up with (just like a good book), they don't eat the merchandise, and they protect the premises from rodents who will eat the merchandise. Let's be honest, though - this list has more than ten cats. What it is is a... READ ON

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Lectures for a New Year: Parrots, the Universe, and Everything

Today I've got a doozy of a lecture for you. I present what is likely Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams's last public appearance -- he died of a heart attack on May 11, 2001, mere days after this talk at UC San Diego was filmed. This is a man in the prime of his life, about to be struck down. And he is cracking wise throughout, telling truly wonderful, engaging stories, but with a shattering message: just as our world is being pulled together by information technology, we are... READ ON

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Lectures for a New Year: Being a Genius vs. Having a Genius

Welcome to the second day of our new lecture series. Are we having fun yet? Up today, a short lecture you can definitely fit in during your lunch break. Liz Gilbert is best known for writing Eat, Pray, Love, which (unlike apparently ever other person in the country) I still haven't read. But she's someone who's been a reasonably successful writer for decades. When her breakthrough memoir became such a huge deal (10 million copies and counting...), Gilbert's perspective on her own creative process... READ ON

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Lendle: A Book Sharing Site for Kindle Users

I recently bought a Kindle -- something I swore I'd never do. There were so many reasons I didn't want one: I already owned too many print books I hadn't read; the screen was kind of crappy; Kindle books were too expensive; the device itself was expensive; and, perhaps most troubling -- buying a Kindle felt like giving up on the publishing industry as I've known it. The worst part of the ebook model offered by Amazon was the inability to have the same kind of ownership over an ebook that I have over a... READ ON

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The Quick 10: 10 Ways Shakespeare Changed Everything

The basic thesis of Stephen Marche’s How Shakespeare Changed Everything becomes obvious very early on (as in, it is expressed in the title). According to this fun, lyrically written and well-researched book, here are just ten of the many ways that Shakespeare changed everything: 1. He gave us a lot of new words Just say some words real quick and you’ll probably say one he coined – nearly 10% of his 20,000-word vocabulary was new to his audiences. You may consider yourself quite fashionable or... READ ON