The Bone series, comprising nine books largely self-published by Smith, is high fantasy masquerading as kid lit. It’s also ...

For all its strengths, the Harry Potter saga is far from perfect, and fantasy literary sagas like A Song of Ice and Fire and Mistborn far surpass it.

Researchers and social critics lament that people are forgetting how to empathize, converse and interact. Can reading old ...

New features pushed to their limits.

If being interesting was on your resolution for 2026, now would be a good time to start with some help from Headway. Replace ...

This is the introduction to Plot Twist, our weekly culture newsletter, in which correspondents spotlight important authors and performers, and tell you about the works of art and the stories they love ...

Nobody needs to read 1000 self-help books. And having done so myself, I can’t say I’d recommend it. There’s a lot of noise out there, and yes, some properly dubious and possibly dangerous advice (say ...

On this week’s episode of Widow’s Bay, “Beach Reads,” the Apple TV horror comedy turns its attentions to Patricia (Kate O’Flynn), who becomes fixated on the idea that if she hosts the perfect party, ...

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

Jenny Lawson’s new book “How to be Okay When Nothing is Okay” originally was written for an audience of one — her child Hailey. Lawson wrote it for them after Hailey left for college because she ...

The total number of books published in the U.S. in 2025 with ISBN numbers jumped 32.5% over 2024, to more than four million books, according to statistics compiled by Bowker. The increase was led by ...

The psychologist B.F. Skinner (1904-90) is remembered for his principle of reinforcement. His idea was simple. When our actions are rewarded by their consequences, we tend to repeat them. When they ...