During the 17th and 18th centuries in England, people’s attitudes toward sexual behavior — and, of course, sexual misbehavior — changed dramatically. To a large degree, this revolution pivoted on the dynamic between private actions and public, civic and religious ideals. How much, or in what way, should society police the erotic life of individuals? Was adultery a crime? Were prostitutes the devil’s snare, or were they the pathetic victims of male callousness and exploitation? Should both sexes be held to the same moral standards? And exactly what standards should those be? Read full article > >

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Book World: ‘The Origins of Sex,’ an early awakening

The plan would move half the books in the stacks of the flagship Fifth Avenue library to New Jersey.

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Changes Planned at N.Y. Public Library Are Assailed

“Downton Abbey” addicts take heart! Season three of that luscious Edwardian bonbon may still be months away from delivery, but mystery dowager Anne Perry stands at the ready with her latest gaslit costume drama, “ Dorchester Terrace .” Read full article > >

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Book World: ‘Dorchester Terrace,’ by Anne Perry

In the late 1990s, the craze for initial public offerings was hailed as the dawn of a new age. The Internet was replacing manufacturing. Who needed a factory floor when you could point and click? Facebook’s Friday IPO, which opened with a staggering $104 billion valuation for the company, hasn’t transported us back to the bubble years of the 1990s. But, like that time, today’s Facebook frenzy is about what our society values. When Mark Zuckerberg rang the opening bell on Friday, his company’s $38 share price wasn’t rooted solely in the economics of the social networking giant. What the financial analysts are selling isn’t just the initial public offering of a company that Zuckerberg started in his dorm room at Harvard eight years ago. They are selling an image of the United States. Read full article > >

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The $104 billion question: What does Facebook’s value say about ours?

The father who came to our family-medicine clinic with his young daughter seemed concerned. The girl, he said, had become a voracious consumer of books. But not in a good way. “She eats them,” he explained, describing how she tore away the pages, one by one, and put them in her mouth, munching and chewing on them. Read full article > >

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Pica, the compulsion to eat dirt and other oddities, is found in many cultures

Some authors, like the novelist James Patterson, are producing 12 or more books a year to satisfy readers who are increasingly used to on-demand entertainment.

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In E-Reader Age of Writer’s Cramp, a Book a Year Is Slacking

To get information for new book on Post editor.

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Woodward: Himmelman ‘Used’ Bradlee

The educational and trade publisher has agreed to a restructuring that would convert its long-term debt to equity.

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Media Decoder Blog: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Enters Bankruptcy Process

Maurice Sendak illustrated nearly 100 books and won accolades for his fanciful tales. One critic called him the “the Picasso of children's literature.”

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‘Where the Wild Things Are’ author dies

Several young authors of financial advice books say they were taught at an early age to be mindful about money.

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Your Money: How to Raise a Financial Guru

Thirty-something years ago, Martha Grimes was a single mom with a drinking problem. She bought vodka – Smirnoff, Stolichnaya — in half-gallon jugs. She taught English 101 at Montgomery College in Takoma Park, a job she couldn’t stand. She argued so vehemently with post office clerks about mailing rates for her manuscripts — she wanted the cheaper book rate — that her son, embarrassed, preferred to wait in the car. Read full article > >

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Martha Grimes named ‘Grand Master” of mystery writers

I’m an organ donor. The instant I kick the proverbial bucket and head off to push up daisies and join the blooming choir invisible, the organ goes to the most deserving, pipes and pedals and all. Hang on . . . I’m being told that this joke was already told to death in 1959 sometime. Read full article > >

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Alexandra Petri: Facebook’s organ donor program and the fine print

Three of Wales’ NHS boards failed to balance the books and are bailed out with £12m from the Welsh government, BBC Wales reveals.

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NHS boards given £12m lifeline

The deal gives Microsoft a 17.6 percent stake in Barnes & Noble’s Nook division and bolsters the bookseller’s efforts to make its digital business the linchpin of its future growth.

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DealBook: Microsoft’s Nook Deal, Aiming at Amazon, Sets Up Battle in E-Books

When the villain in Arthur Conan Doyle’s story “ The Adventure of the Dancing Men ” demands to know how Sherlock Holmes could have broken his cipher, the great detective coolly replies, “What one man can invent another can discover.” Read full article > >

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Nick Santora’s ‘Fifteen Digits’: A clunky caper