Like sex, science sells, and craft brewers have used it to give their concoctions a sense of handmade authenticity, as Adam Rogers writes in his new book, Proof: The Science of Booze. But are mass-market beverages made with any less care?

At the heart of Siri Hustvedt’s recent novel, The Blazing World, is a work of art conjured up for the story itself. Would the Man Booker-shortlisted book have been as successful if this fictitious exhibition didn’t seem real enough for our own world?

From Enlightment-era tools of torture to Marathon Man.

YA literature is often criticized for the thing that makes it essential: recognizing and validating the daily dramatic ebbs and flows that come with adolescence.