There is no one way to describe Philippe Starck - architect, inventor, pop star, philosopher, celebrity, and all of these par excellence, but it is as a designer that he has made such a huge impact on contemporary culture. Without a doubt,...

As you read this, at some level you're aware that you're reading, thanks to a standard human feature commonly referred to as consciousness. What is it--a spiritual phenomenon, an evolutionary tool, a neurological side effect? The best scien...

For kids and adults, too. This is a very well down piece of fantasy allowing the viewer to just relax and enjoy. Some of the scenes may be a little harsh for the training pants set, but in general a very good claymation stop-motion comedy....

The twenty-first century is the first century of the third millennium (2001 - 3000). The increasing prevalence of global communications and encounters with other calendars (Islamic calendar, Chinese calendar, Persian calendar, Hebrew calend...

The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th, or 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks launched by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washin...

This sunny comic fable from idiosyncratic director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (City of Lost Children, Alien Resurrection, Delicatessen) boasts any number of intimate charms, not the least of which is Yann Tiersen's warmly inviting score. Composer a...

I absolutely loved, loved, loved this book. It's technically classified as a mystery because the heroine, 30ish Precious Ramotswe, operates Botswana's first female-owned detective agency, The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency.But to pigeonhole...

An ancient Ring thought lost for centuries has been found, and through a strange twist in fate has been given to a small Hobbit named Frodo. When Gandalf discovers the Ring is in fact the One Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron, Frodo must make an...

In 1901 history was made with one of the most important business deals of the 20th century. Andrew Carnegie sold his vast steel empire to J.P. Morgan for $480 million (equivalent to $10 billion today) and launched what he called "the busine...

The War in Afghanistan followed the United States invasion of Afghanistan on October 7 2001, when the United States of America and its allies successfully drove the Taliban from power in order to deny Al-Qaeda a safe base of operations in A...

A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance. Gottlieb's elegant survey brings a breath of fresh air. Executive editor of The Economist, Gottlieb mines primary sources with a remarkably even hand. He demonstrates that, while c...

This second entry in Smith's Botswana-set series picks up right where the wonderful The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency left off. Indeed, the two books are utterly seamless, and it'd be a real shame to read this without reading its predecess...

The Iraq War was an armed conflict in Iraq that consisted of two phases. The first was an invasion of Iraq starting on 20 March 2003 by an invasion force led by the United States. It was followed by a longer phase of fighting, in which an i...

With The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown masterfully concocts an intelligent and lucid thriller that marries the gusto of an international murder mystery with a collection of fascinating esoteria culled from 2,000 years of Western history....

Kill Bill continues the great tradition of great movies directed by the legendary Quentin Tarantino. And like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill is overdone, glamourous, and is a terrific, violent, convoluted film! Kill Bill seems like it is a bit too...