Local independent bookstores have helped keep many a restless mind grounded during the unpredictability of the past couple of years with a steady supply of compelling reading material, along with hosting a variety of online author talks and events. And for the first time in two years, there's ample opportunity to celebrate these businesses in person, on Independent Bookstore Day, which takes place on Saturday, April 30.
Read MoreThe story of a family made notorious with one heinous act that reshaped the course of U.S. history.
Read MoreMenlo Park resident Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic on her two new books, picky eating and fictional places inspired by Peninsula spots.
Read MoreFacebook’s strategy has always been to “move fast and break things.” In a brand-new exposé, two veteran New York Times reporters examine what’s been broken.
Read MoreMichael Thompson says he’s proud of his godfather but supports Seuss estate’s action on offensive imagery. By Kate Bradshaw Michael Thompson knew his godfather as Uncle Ted. But to many, many others, Theodor Seuss Geisel was best known by his pen name, Dr. Seuss. Thompson, who now lives in Redwood City, said he was around 3 years old when Geisel dedicated his book “If I Ran the Zoo” to him. That book is one of ...
Read MoreAddiction, obscurity and how Walter Tevis’ childhood experience at Stanford shaped Beth Harmon’s backstory. (Original 650 illustration by Kaz Palladino / Awkward Affections) If you’re having a hard time purchasing a chess set for Christmas this year—blame Walter Tevis. Yes, the surge of interest in the age-old game (and the ensuing retail run on chess sets) has been squarely attributed to the recent success of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, which is based ...
Read MoreGrateful Dead Origins dives deep on the band’s beginnings in Palo Alto and around the Bay. (Image via Z2 Comics) “It’s very weird.” Yep, trying to nail down the logic behind the Grateful Dead’s enduring popularity is a tricky proposition. After all, how exactly did a group of mismatched oddballs from the San Francisco Peninsula vault their unlikely band to global fame, garner a one-of-a-kind devoted fan base and trailblaze a massive counterculture that ...
Read MoreStanford historian Leslie Berlin discusses her new book on the forgotten figures of tech history By Emily Olson Bunch of troublemakers: early Silicon Valley engineers responding to a reporter’s question—“What do you think of Texas Instruments?” (Images Courtesy of the Computer History Museum) It’s possible to explain the history of Silicon Valley using only two types of characters — and no, we’re not talking binary. There’s the “innovators … the typical heroes in our story of technological process,” as Atlantic Senior ...
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