"Ajay Anthonipillai has a million-dollar problem. Ajay has lived his life dutifully following the rules set by his Tamil parents. Rules like, "straight A's only" (rule #3), "no such thing as a no-homework day" (rule #5), and "never watch scary movies" (rule #10). But moving to a new school gives Ajay a new rule to follow: get on seventh grade all-star Jacob Underson's good side. When Jacob asks him to steal a Mercury bar from Scary Al's convenience...

"It's once upon a time . . . as only the irreverently witty Richard Ayoade can tell it. In this series of letters organized by fictitious C. C. Cecily, Senior Secretary of the Fairy Tale Fan Club, the fairest of them all (and a few bitter foes) correspond with curious--and opinionated--fans. So if you've ever wondered how a less-than-genius (and less-than-clothed) emperor fell for a certain con, how the Big Bad Wolf is handling meatless Mondays, or...

"Genealogical research has always called for a deep dive into a wide array of historical resources—everything from centuries-old marriage registers and immigration documents to handwritten diaries and newspaper clippings that capture the rhythm of our ancestors' daily lives. And let's be honest: it wasn't that long ago that we, as researchers, had to wade through every line ourselves, painstakingly summarizing, transcribing, and, in some cases,...

"From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in the heart of an empire that doesn't consider you fully human. On October 25th, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been...

"Every day we draw in two thousand gallons of air--and thousands of living things. From the ground to the stratosphere, the air teems with invisible life. This last great biological frontier remains so mysterious that it took over two years for scientists to finally agree that the Covid pandemic was caused by an airborne virus. In Air-Borne, award-winning New York Times columnist and author Carl Zimmer leads us on an odyssey through the living atmosphere...

"Tamara Lanier grew up listening to her mother's stories about her ancestors. As Black Americans descended from enslaved people brought to America, they knew all too well how fragile the tapestry of a lineage could be. As her mother's health declined, she pushed her daughter to dig into those stories. "Tell them about Papa Renty," she would say. It was her mother's last wish. Thus begins one woman's remarkable commitment to document that story. Her...