Have you ever wondered if you could successfully fertilize your garden with urine? Me neither. In their smart and cheeky new guide, Jeff Gillman and Meleah Maynard—an associate professor of horticulture and a master gardener,... Read More

A Tokyo pickpocket finds meaning in his otherwise drab and aimless life by reflecting on the subtleties of his art: selecting the “mark”; using a crowd to shield his motions; and extracting the wallet with a deft, fluid, two-finger... Read More

"The Lord God Bird" is a quiet novel with a solitary spirit. Like its protagonist, it delves into the muddiness of the human condition—the way we live and lose our lives—but does so with gentle strokes of methodical, tender... Read More

Adulthood brings the universal need to reconcile our personal history with the present. It’s a dicey proposition to attempt to take the pains of childhood and craft them into a fulfilling adult life. Hart faces this challenge with a... Read More

In October 2011, President Obama confirmed that the United States would withdraw its troop presence from Iraq at the end of the year. After an eight-year war fraught with controversy and instability, it’s unclear if Iraq will thrive as... Read More

A wonderful book of drawing exercises, Let’s Make Some Great Art maximizes fun and originality, while painlessly and realistically introducing key ideas about perception. Scientific concepts such as light and shade, transparency and... Read More

Inspiring, fascinating, and passionate, Blase Bonpane chronicles his life from a boyhood in Los Angeles to an adulthood spent fighting for peace and justice. Even when describing remarkable changes in his life—such as being expelled... Read More

God bless America: a cliché that seems to be all around us. We hear it said in earnest and with sarcasm. And as such, it sets the right tone for Steve Almond’s third short story collection, which finds room for both the heartfelt and... Read More