Books

Court OKs Universities' Quest To Turn To More Digital Copies Of Books

9:43am June 11, 2014

by Lynn Neary

An appeals court has ruled against a group of authors, deciding in favor of a consortium of universities in a case that hinged on copyright law and provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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John Waters Hitchhikes Across America, And Lives To Write About It

4:04pm June 10, 2014

The 68-year-old film director hitchhiked from Baltimore to San Francisco for his book Carsick. He says hitchhiking is "the worst beauty regimen ever" and admits he always kept his luggage with him.

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'Rise And Fall' Carries On Vagabond Adventure Tale Tradition

3:31pm June 10, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

The Rise and Fall of Great Powers — the latest from Imperfectionists author Tom Rachman — follows the travels of a young bookstore proprietor. It's a "strange" book that requires a bit of patience.

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From The Ocean Deep To The Courtroom: A Tale Of Sunken Treasure

9:59am June 10, 2014

When the SS Central America sunk in 1857, it took down tons of gold with it. Gary Kinder, author of Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, tells the fraught tale of shipwreck and recovered treasure.

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McMurtry Takes Aim At A Legend In 'Last Kind Words Saloon'

9:53am June 10, 2014

by Alan Cheuse

The famed writer of Westerns uses his first novel in five years to blow a few holes in the myths surrounding the shootout at the OK Corral. Reviewer Alan Cheuse calls it "a peach of a book."

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Books

Author: 2nd Amendment's Only Sentence Generates Recurrent Debate

8:23am June 10, 2014

Steve Inskeep talks to Michael Waldman president of NYU Law School's Brennan Center for Justice about his new book, which is a biography of the second amendment.

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From Lunch (n.) To Balding (adj.), Some Words Are Just 'Bad English'

11:02pm June 07, 2014

by NPR Staff

A new book looks at words that self-appointed linguistic police have declared contraband, like "lunch," which should be a verb, and "balding," a participle formed from an adjective instead of a verb.

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Looking at difficult mathematics equations on a blackboard.

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'How Not To Be Wrong' In Math Class? Add A Dose Of Skepticism

11:01pm June 07, 2014

by NPR Staff

Professor Jordan Ellenberg gives students points for recognizing when they get a wrong answer, even if they can't figure out why. In his new book, he writes that good math is about good reasoning.

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'Take This Man': Uncovering A Mother's Reinventions

8:08pm June 07, 2014

by NPR Staff

When Brando Skyhorse was 3, he and his mother were abandoned by his Mexican father. So his mother created a new story line for the family, identifying herself and her young son as American Indian.

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Swallowed By The Times And The Fate Of 'Great Powers'

12:41pm June 07, 2014

Tom Rachman has written a book for book lovers in The Rise and Fall of Great Powers. The best-selling novelist talks with NPR's Scott Simon about the difference between reading and literature.

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