Posts by Nicholas Parker

This Monday, August 21, New York will bear witness to an eclipse of the sun at 2:44 PM. If you haven't nailed down plans for how to (safely) view this rare astronomical event, the Library has you covered.

Welcome to our biweekly update on events happening during the next two weeks at The New York Public Library. With 92 locations across New York City, a lot is happening at the Library.

Holly Golightly, Elle Woods, and Brian Griffin: what do these three have in common? They've all been imitated by Michiko Kakutani over the course of her career as The New York Times' chief book critic.

Welcome to our biweekly update on events happening during the next two weeks at The New York Public Library. With 92 locations across New York City, a lot is happening at the Library.

If you haven't gotten a chance to read McCarthy's works, here are our suggestions for where to start.

There's so much available to read on the #SubwayLibrary — a service that delivers free e-books brought to you by MTA, Transit Wireless, and NYC's libraries— it can be hard to choose which books to peruse on your commute. Lucky for you, we're going to put together a list of our favorite titles in a given category every week, so you can get the best recommendations for what to read from our NYPL experts.

There's so much available to read on the #SubwayLibrary — a service that delivers free e-books brought to you by MTA, Transit Wireless, and NYC's libraries— it can be hard to choose which books to peruse on your commute. Lucky for you, we're going to put together a list of our favorite titles in a given category every week, so you can get the best recommendations for what to read from our NYPL experts.

Welcome to our biweekly update on events happening during the next two weeks. With 92 locations across New York City, a lot is happening at the Library.

There's so much available to read on the #SubwayLibrary — a service that delivers free e-books brought to you by MTA, Transit Wireless, and NYC's libraries— it can be hard to choose which books to peruse on your commute.

Any successful author will tell you that before they hit the literary bigtime, they had to do a whole lot of hustling to support their writing habit. On July 5, 1880, playwright George Bernard Shaw was able to quit his day job, but some of these authors continued to work at their 9-to-5's even after they were published.

Whether you're looking to immerse yourself in a tropical exploration, learn all there is to know about the world of microbes, or just have a great laugh, you can find what you're looking for in the true stories section.

The folklore of North America is full of tall tales and wild stories from the North Woods and the Wild West -- most of them too fantastical to be believed. But as with a lot of oral tradition, some of those stories are actually rooted in true figures from history. Can you separate fact from fiction? Test your knowledge with our "real or not" folklore quiz!

Welcome to our biweekly update on events happening during the next two weeks at The New York Public Library. With 92 locations across New York City, a lot is happening at the Library.

Ambrose Bierce was an American satirist, journalist, and author in the late 19th and early 20th century. Bierce was an expert short story author -- his war fiction, based on his own experiences in the Civil War, is particularly acclaimed -- but he is also just as well known for his humorous works, including The Devil's Dictionary, a compendium of comical definitions that satirizes human nature and American culture.

What exactly does the Poet Laureate do? How is one chosen? And how did this position even come to be? We found the answers to all these questions, and more, from our friends over at The Library of Congress.

With 92 locations across New York City, a lot is happening at the Library. We're highlighting some of our events here—including author talks, free classes, community art shows, performances, concerts, and exhibitions.

There are an infinite variety of tyrannies and dystopias, but they all share one trait: the ferocious opposition to free thought, open minds, and access to information. Where people are free to learn, to share, to explore, feel and dream, liberty grows.

Welcome to our biweekly update on events happening during the next two weeks at The New York Public Library. With 92 locations across New York City, a lot is happening at the Library. We're highlighting some of our events here—including author talks, free classes, community art shows, performances, concerts, and exhibitions.

 May 21 marks the birthday of Alexander Pope, one of the most famous English poets of the 18th century. The author of The Dunciad and The Rape of the Lock,