In honor of Record Store Day, I got on the phone with Russ Solomon, who founded Tower Records in the early 1960s — the late-great chain was also the subject… Read the rest of the article: If you're too young to remember the magic of Tower Records, here's what you missed

Since April of 2013, Cory has posted frequently about Scarfolk for Boing Boing. Now, Hunter Oatman-Stanford has interviewed Richard Littler, the creator of this fictional 1970s dystopia. Even in the… Read the rest of the article: Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s

See sample pages from this book at Wink. Shaped like a hexagon to mimic the dimensions of a cube, Minecraft: Blockopedia is designed for full-on Minecraft geeks, although those of… Read the rest of the article: Minecraft: Blockopedia – for full-on Minecraft geeks, as well as over-the-shoulder admirers

When most of us gaze upon an eight-place setting of fine porcelain china or a curvaceous ceramic vase, we see exactly that, but when Jim Robinson of Rookwood Pottery looks… Read the rest of the article: The geo-chemistry behind Rookwood pottery

See sample pages from this book at Wink. When most people think of professional cycling today, the name Lance Armstrong probably still comes to mind. Between 1999 and 2005, Armstrong… Read the rest of the article: Shoulder to Shoulder – Cycling in the sixties with Jacques Anquetil

Featuring reviews of more that 160 cookbooks written by African Americans during the 19th and 20th centuries, Toni Tipton-Martin's The Jemima Code is a much-overdue look at at how African… Read the rest of the article: Out of the Shadow of Aunt Jemima: the real black chefs who taught Americans to cook

See sample pages from this book at Wink. In my other life as a board member of The Rock Poster Society, the phrase "rock art" just about always equals "rock… Read the rest of the article: Drawn in Stereo captures the art of noise

See sample pages from this book at Wink. If Walt Disney gave us the definitive picture of German fairy tales such as Cinderella and Snow White, first published in 1812… Read the rest of the article: East of the Sun and West of the Moon – Norwegian folklore intricately illustrated by artist Kay Nielsen

Needle-in-a-haystack stories are the caffeine of collecting. As the editor of Fine Books & Collections, Rebecca Rego Barry knows this better than most; her new book, Rare Books Uncovered, is… Read the rest of the article: Tales of book-collecting bonanzas

Last month, Frances Dinkelspiel's new book, Tangled Vines, cracked the New York Times' Best Seller list. It's a great read, since it mostly follows the events leading up to an… Read the rest of the article: The forgotten kingpins who conspired to save California wine

When Hunter Oatman-Stanford began working on an article about Neil Kaplan's collection of old passports, we had no idea his story would be so timely. Alas, the acts of terrorism… Read the rest of the article: The politics of prejudice: how passports rubber-stamp our indifference to refugees

For his latest piece at Collectors Weekly, Hunter Oatman-Stanford spoke to filmmaker Lisa Hurwitz about the Horn & Hardart chain of cafeterias and automats. Despite being limited to Philadelphia and… Read the rest of the article: Coin-op cuisine: when the future tasted like a five-cent slice of pie

We've all encountered what people today call Black Memorabilia — a Mammy cookie jar, a racist postcard — but have you ever wondered where these depictions came from, and why… Read the rest of the article: How America bought and sold racism, and why it still matters

See sample pages from this book at Wink. For much of the 1990s, Mark Hogancamp of Kingston, New York, adhered to a predictable pattern of waking up, going to work,… Read the rest of the article: A fictional but physically real world of dolls that heal a beaten man

Books about book covers and jackets have long been a favorite of publishers, in part, I’m assuming, because the subject is at once self-congratulatory and economical. There are books devoted… Read the rest of the article: The Book Cover in the Weimar Republic reveals a society's struggle for its identity

About two-thirds of the way through NK Guy’s enormous, gorgeous, and thoughtful new Taschen book, Art of Burning Man, the author/photographer makes a small confession: “For all the wonders of… Read the rest of the article: The best Burning Man coffee table book

Most of the guitarists, bassists, and mandolin players in photographer Jay Blakesberg's just released gem of a new book, Guitars That Jam: Portraits of the World's Most Storied Rock Guitars,… Read the rest of the article: Portraits of the world's most storied rock guitars

Last year, when Unit Editions of London published Manuals 1: Design & Identity Guidelines, the 432-page gloss-wrapped hardback sold out fast.

For those of us who do not live in Texas, and even for many who do, Austin is an outpost of progressive weirdness in a state better known for its… Read the rest of the article: Homegrown: Austin Music Posters 1967 to 1982

On May 1, 1953, a rifle-toting bobcat named Simple J. Malarkey ambled into Okefenokee Swamp, the setting for Walt Kelly's Pogo comic strip, which ran in U.S. newspapers from 1948… Read the rest of the article: Pogo in the Age of McCarthy