Just wake up one hour earlier, argues happiness expert Gretchen Rubin in a recent Huffington Post blog. It sounds deceptively simple, but Rubin makes an insightful argument. She says that one of the biggest roadblocks to happiness is lack of time for something personal, like exercise, reading for pleasure, or working on a novel. But the truth is, many of us dohave that… Read More >>

Most births don't make headlines unless the mother is, say, Snooki. But the arrival of Chicago mom Sara Connell's son, Finnean, did, because it wasn't Sara who gave birth: It was her 61-year-old mother, Kristine Casey, who acted as a surrogate. As you might imagine, that wasn't a decision anyone made lightly, but after Sara and her husband, Bill, tried… Read More >>

One of the most recognizable accessories of the U.S. military uniform, the humble combat boot is now being elevated to help promote awareness of what wounded veterans face when they return home. Founded by five Texas women, The Boot Campaignencourages civilians to buy (and wear) authentic combat boots to stand tall with our troops. The organization donates 100 percent… Read More >>

1. He's an ugly hero.
Jack Reacher is big and tall, ragged and unkempt. In A Wanted Man, the latest installment in the series by Lee Child, he’s got a freshly broken nose patched with duct tape, making him look even more grotesque. Yeech.

2. There's no tearful happy ending.
Readers who like a nice romantic wallow with a nice sweet ending are never satisfied by a Reacher novel, where the endings are usually Reacher working as a one-man army against the bad guys. Where’s the romance in that?

3. The books are kind of interchangeable.
It doesn’t matter which order you read the 16 novels in—it'd be nice if there was some development to reward loyal fans. Child's newest installment will get the same predictable great reviews as all the others, so it’s kind of tough to ask which to choose as a favorite.

4. It makes a terrible gift.
Reacher books are ridiculously popular around the world, and they are equally popular with both men and women. Which means that if you want to buy this for Grandma’s birthday, or Junior’s birthday, or anyone’s birthday, they’ve probably already bought it for themselves. Reacher fans don’t let any grass grow under their feet.

5. Tom Cruise is going to star in the movie.
If you start reading about a heavily built, six-foot-five fighting machine, you will inevitably start wondering what special effects will be in place for the upcoming movie Jack Reacher to enable Tom Cruise to play the part. Then again, Reacher is the ultimate maverick, and Cruise was Maverick in Top Gun. So maybe that explains it.

6. Once you start a Reacher novel, you will unfairly ignore your family.
We speak from experience. Once you begin reading A Wanted Man, you will continue reading it until it’s over, and nothing in the real world will pull you away from it. As this may cause friction among those around you, it’s probably best not to start it in the first place.

Everyone knows the food is one of the most outrageous parts of the local county or state fair—and The Atlantic rounded up 25 of the greasiest bitesyou'd find, from the Texas State Fair's deep fried foods competition. Fried bubble gum, fried butter, and fried jambalaya, are all in this heart-stopping collection. Prefer the classics? Me, I go right for the fried dough, which according to… Read More >>

As I read the news every day, I often find myself muttering, "You can't make this stuff up." And perhaps no one knows that better than the creator of my new favorite Tumblr, Onion-Like Headlines in Real Life. "Onion-like" refers, of course, to that bastion of made-up news, The Onion (sample fake headline: "I Wish My Parents Would Stop Emailing Naked Pictures of Me To All Their Friends" by Aiden… Read More >>

The New York City Board of Health approved on Thursday Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to ban the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces, a plan that’s controversial with the beverage industry and residents alike. But aside from the debate over government involvement in our eating habits, the question of whether the initiative will actually… Read More >>

As the turmoil in the Middle East continued two days after the murder of the American ambassador to Libya and three other members of the U.S. mission, I became curious about the history of America's evolving role in the world. Fortunately, the State Department maintains an excellent website.

I found just what I was looking for here, an easy-to-navigate list of key foreign affairs milestones going all the way back to 1750. From the roots of the French and Indian War through the rise of the Nazis and the fall of the Soviet Union, it's a complex and compelling tale told in concise chapters. What it offers, besides a good read, is some much-needed…

For the folks out there reading the latest Michael Chabon novel on an electronic device, here’s something to chew on: Books—you know, those paper things with inky words impressed on them—are not a lost art form. Don’t believe it? Just ask Guy Laramee.

While some people might discard their old tomes or employ them as doorstops, Laramee, a Montreal-based artist, gives them a second life as beautifully crafted sculptures. In the case of one work, The Great Wall(above), he even created a background story. It's premised on the fact that the Chinese have conquered America in the 23rd century. Or something like that. I…

What I did get, though, was that the artwork, which includes books turned landscapes, temples, caverns, and more, is spectacular.

Try doing all this with a Kindle.

MORE: The Fantastic Folded Art of Isaac Salazar »

A few months ago, I was struck by a photo I spotted on a news site. A teenage boy was standing at a busy intersection of some city wearing a sign written in his own hand, I presume, stating that he is a serial class cutter and that he will never, ever, "EVER!"do it again. The story goes that the boy's father was fed up with his little dollop of joy and… Read More >>