In 2012, Random House Publishing and fellow publishing giant Penguin Group agreed to merge operations in a £2.4 billion merger deal, and in 2013, they became the world’s largest publishing company, named Penguin Random House, retaining both their brand names. read more In 2013, J. K. Rowling secretly published an adult detective novel under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. read more In 2016, the granddaughter of a man who had “borrowed” The Microscope and Its Revelations from Hereford Cathedral School in the UK returned the book 120 years late. read more In 2019, Americans aged 15-44 spent 10 minutes or less per day on reading; In contrast, Americans spent almost 3 hours per day using their phones. read more In 2019, London’s Canary Wharf introduced vending machines that print out random short stories of a selected genre on receipt-like scrolls. The machines can dispense one, three and five-minute stories free to passersby at the touch of a button. read more In 2020, Penguin Random House agreed to purchase rival publisher Simon & Schuster for $2.2 billion. In 2021, a US judge blocked the merger, agreeing with the Justice Department that the joining of two biggest publishers could 'lessen competition' for 'top-selling books.' read more In 2021, billionaire investor Kenneth Griffin bought a first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution for $43.2 million at Sotheby's, setting the record for the most expensive document ever sold at auction. The document is one of 13 known copies and one of only two held in private. read more In a 2010 article for The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik named three perfect books in American literature that speak to every reader and condition: The Catcher in the Rye, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby. read more In a Human Library, you can check-out humans as a living book and listen to their stories. read more In ancient Egypt, all ships visiting Alexandria were obliged to surrender their books to the Great Library of Alexandria and be copied. The original would be kept in the library and the copy given back to the owner. read more In Canada, authors receive payment if their books are available in public libraries. Through the Public Lending Right (PLR) program, over 18,000 Canadian authors are compensated annually, with payments ranging from $50 to $4,500 per year. read more In Halloween, J. R. R. Tolkien was known to dress up as an axe-wielding Anglo-Saxon warrior and chase his astonished neighbor down the street. read more «« « 15 16 17 18 19 » »»
In 2012, Random House Publishing and fellow publishing giant Penguin Group agreed to merge operations in a £2.4 billion merger deal, and in 2013, they became the world’s largest publishing company, named Penguin Random House, retaining both their brand names. read more
In 2013, J. K. Rowling secretly published an adult detective novel under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. read more
In 2016, the granddaughter of a man who had “borrowed” The Microscope and Its Revelations from Hereford Cathedral School in the UK returned the book 120 years late. read more
In 2019, Americans aged 15-44 spent 10 minutes or less per day on reading; In contrast, Americans spent almost 3 hours per day using their phones. read more
In 2019, London’s Canary Wharf introduced vending machines that print out random short stories of a selected genre on receipt-like scrolls. The machines can dispense one, three and five-minute stories free to passersby at the touch of a button. read more
In 2020, Penguin Random House agreed to purchase rival publisher Simon & Schuster for $2.2 billion. In 2021, a US judge blocked the merger, agreeing with the Justice Department that the joining of two biggest publishers could 'lessen competition' for 'top-selling books.' read more
In 2021, billionaire investor Kenneth Griffin bought a first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution for $43.2 million at Sotheby's, setting the record for the most expensive document ever sold at auction. The document is one of 13 known copies and one of only two held in private. read more
In a 2010 article for The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik named three perfect books in American literature that speak to every reader and condition: The Catcher in the Rye, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby. read more
In ancient Egypt, all ships visiting Alexandria were obliged to surrender their books to the Great Library of Alexandria and be copied. The original would be kept in the library and the copy given back to the owner. read more
In Canada, authors receive payment if their books are available in public libraries. Through the Public Lending Right (PLR) program, over 18,000 Canadian authors are compensated annually, with payments ranging from $50 to $4,500 per year. read more
In Halloween, J. R. R. Tolkien was known to dress up as an axe-wielding Anglo-Saxon warrior and chase his astonished neighbor down the street. read more
