The New York Public Library staff answers questions remarkable and preposterous, with illustrations by Barry Blitt. Have you’ve ever wondered if you can keep an octopus in a private home? Do you spend your time thinking about how much Napoleon’s brain weighed? If so, Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers is the book for you. The New York Public Library has been fielding questions like these ever since it was founded in 1895. Of course, some of the questions have left the librarians scratching their heads... “In what occupations may one be barefooted?” “What time does a bluebird sing?” “What does it mean when you’re being chased by an elephant?” “What kind of apple did Eve eat?” “How many neurotic people are there in the U.S.?” In Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers, the staff of the NYPL has dug through the archives to find thoughtful and often witty answers to over one hundred of the oddest, funniest, and most whimsical questions the library has received since it began record-keeping over seventy-five years ago. One of The New Yorker’s best-known and beloved illustrators, Barry Blitt, has created watercolors that bring many of the questions hilariously to life in a book that answers, among others, the question “Does anyone have a copyright on the Bible?”

Discover ancient African civilizations. Explore the devastating Middle Passage and see the famous March on Washington. Find the answers to your questions about African American history . . . Did blacks fight in the Revolutionary War? See page 18. What was the Underground Railroad? See page 30. Who were the Buffalo Soldiers? See page 59. What is the NAACP? See page 64. What was the Harlem Renaissance? See page 77. How did the civil rights movement begin? See page 112. What was the Black Power movement? See page 131. What is affirmative action? See page 146.

The New York Public Library amazing space Travel to distant galaxies and explore awesome constellations.Discover mysterious planets and catch a comet by the tail. Find theanswers to your questions about the wonders of space . . . THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY's best-selling reference books includeThe New York Public Library Desk Reference, The New York PublicLibrary Book of Answers, and The New York Public Library Student'sDesk Reference. ANN-JEANETTE CAMPBELL is the coauthor of The NewYork Public Library Incredible Earth. Also in this series . . . The New York Public Library IncredibleEarth

Consists of questions and answers about Latinos, revealing the common history which unites them while also showing how they differ depending upon their country of origin.

Consists of short answers to questions about the roles and achievements of women in America from prehistory to the end of the 20th-century

The only up-to-date guide that addresses everyone who writes, from books and magazine features to newsletters, business reports, technical papers and brochures -- with information on how to use computers in every stage of publication.

Susan Orlean’s bestseller and New York Times Notable Book is “a sheer delight…as rich in insight and as varied as the treasures contained on the shelves in any local library” (USA TODAY)—a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution and an investigation into one of its greatest mysteries. “Everybody who loves books should check out The Library Book” (The Washington Post). On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who? Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a “delightful…reflection on the past, present, and future of libraries in America” (New York magazine) that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before. In the “exquisitely written, consistently entertaining” (The New York Times) The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries; brings each department of the library to vivid life; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago. “A book lover’s dream…an ambitiously researched, elegantly written book that serves as a portal into a place of history, drama, culture, and stories” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country.

History.

Famous phrases, literary terms, memorable characters, the secret lives and loves of authors--facts, fiction, and fundamentals to delight every reader. This entertaining compendium covers thousands of years of literary endeavors in compact and informative question-and-answer format. Each answer puts the work or author into a historical and literary context. Bibliography. Index.