My friend has her first novel coming out soon, and I want to get her a neat present to celebrate her major-publisher, first-time author status. Any suggestions?
posted to Ask Metafilter by melodykramer at 10:13 PM on July 10, 2008 (18 comments)

I love Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City. It's a non-fiction book about Chicago in 1893 which reads much like a novel. I'd like to read other books written in the same novel-esque style about some other cities or historic events. Know of any novel-like non-fiction reads?
posted to Ask Metafilter by melodykramer at 7:39 PM on June 29, 2008 (44 comments)

Self Made Scholar hosts a comprehensive collection of links to online classes in over 80 subjects. They also link to collections of free books and audiobooks.
posted to MetaFilter by Upton O'Good at 9:01 PM on June 1, 2008 (7 comments)

pursuant to this excellent post, what other repositories of historic/interesting/important periodicals exist online?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Chrischris at 9:06 PM on May 8, 2008 (10 comments)

I work with someone who I believe has an auditory processing disorder. Help me figure out how to work more efficiently and effectively with her.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 12:31 AM on April 3, 2008 (6 comments)

Cowgirl campfire song, lead-in to a solo CD I did in February. Thanks to Eideteker for the file conversion.
posted to MeFi Music by Miko at 7:23 PM on July 6, 2006 (15 comments)

"But, it's a post on film noir!" I told her. She jerked away from me like a startled fawn might, if I had a startled fawn and it jerked away from me. I knew that caving into my desires meant I might lose her. But I didn't care. I went out to the kitchen to make coffee -- yards of coffee. Rich, strong, bitter, boiling hot, ruthless, depraved. I knew she'd be back.
posted to MetaFilter by miss lynnster at 12:56 AM on January 11, 2008 (48 comments)

Great British mystery television shows/movies? My girlfriend and I are both rabid fans of good, old-fashioned British whodunnits. Nothing like a rainy Sunday curled up in the sofa to watch an insufferable amateur detective line up a bunch of eccentric upper-class Brits by the fireplace to expose their innermost red herrings: Poirot, Miss Marple, Jonathan Creek, Cadfael, Inspector Alleyn, Sherlock Holmes, Gosford Park -- we have pretty much watched them all, including numerous Agatha Christie movie adaptations. What else is out there? Must be British, or feature mainly Brits; extra points for smoking jackets, quaint little villages in Dorset, vintage automobiles and funny little Frenchmen. (We don't like modern police procedurals that much, though; Inspector Morse is all right, but not quite our cup of tea.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by gentle at 6:26 PM on January 4, 2008 (34 comments)

Could you recommend books similar to The Name of the Rose and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell? There's something about the tone, the mashing of genres together, and the over-immersion in details that is unbelievably appealing to me. (But don't recommend Tolkien!)
posted to Ask Metafilter by flibbertigibbet at 2:57 PM on December 19, 2007 (49 comments)

This AskMe post has made me lose my faith in humanity, and I desperately need to spew bile about that.
posted to MetaTalk by Meatbomb at 7:29 AM on December 11, 2007 (454 comments)

I need a funny saying for a sign that will go in a window. It will hang over my fat cat, who hardly moves. I know you guys can come up with something great.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Alpenglow at 8:59 AM on November 28, 2007 (84 comments)

wit whim and whimsy filter: over the last 9-ish years or so... i have established a tradition of bringing a bag of maltesers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltesers to my darling friend every time we go to the movies. no idea how it started... but it's a tradition. now she has cancer. it's terminal. it's pancreatic. and she can't have maltesers any more.
posted to Ask Metafilter by taff at 1:56 AM on November 10, 2007 (22 comments)

I find the Garden State soundtrack to be a masterful collection of music. I've already purchased albums by most of the artists; are there any similar good artists or compilations out there?
posted to Ask Metafilter by seiryuu at 7:49 PM on June 1, 2007 (49 comments)

There may be some among us who can imagine 20 days in captivity; perhaps a fraction of those can imagine a full year deprived of liberty and most human contact. But 20 years? Downey and Fecteau have consistently sought to downplay their period of imprisonment; and neither has done what arguably too many former CIA officers do these days with far less justification: write a book. Downey has said that such a book would contain "500 blank pages," and Fecteau says the whole experience could be summed up by the word "boring."

Extraordinary Fidelity: Two CIA Prisoners in China, 1952–73 [secure link] by Nicholas Dujmovic, a CIA historian and a veteran intelligence analyst. Time article about Downey and Fecteau from 1954.
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus at 8:15 PM on May 3, 2007 (26 comments)

Studies in Scarlet: Marriage & Sexuality in the US & UK, 1815-1914 , courtesy of Harvard University, features digitized trial narratives for over 400 cases--some famous, most not. (Harvard also has a more general collection of trial narratives here.) There are earlier trial narratives at Rictor Norton's Homosexuality in Eighteenth Century England: A Sourcebook and Early Eighteenth-Century Newspaper Reports; see also CrimeCulture's Rogue's Gallery and a Victorian anthology, Curiosities of Street Literature (originally published in 1871). Albert Borowitz has a brief history of true crime narratives here. For more historical criminality from the investigator's point of view, check out the Forensic Medicine Archives Project at the University of Glasgow. (Main link via VICTORIA.)
posted to MetaFilter by thomas j wise at 5:05 PM on March 15, 2007 (13 comments)

Naughty Kitties love their spankings! [YouTube]
posted to MetaFilter by CrunchyFrog at 8:21 PM on February 10, 2007 (73 comments)

What should I say/do to be polite about someone's baby?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Listener at 6:31 PM on February 9, 2007 (46 comments)

So, I moved halfway across the country to be with a guy who subsequently decided I'm too irritating to be around. Help me make the best of a shitty, shitty situation.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 9:57 PM on February 9, 2007 (31 comments)

I just left Teach for America....and I think I might be professionally ineffective for the rest of my life
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 9:17 AM on February 8, 2007 (49 comments)

Art Relationship Morality Filter – Have recently discovered my newly wed wife has lied to me about the contents of a painting that takes pride of place in our small flat.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 11:21 PM on February 6, 2007 (42 comments)

What's the name of the condition for people who for some reason are highly susceptible to passing on electrical current to things like computers and other electronics, leading to strange problems with said devices?
posted to Ask Metafilter by wubbie at 5:01 PM on January 19, 2007 (41 comments)

If I say to you, "The 5 o'clock meeting has been pushed forward 1 hour," what do you understand the new meeting time to be?
posted to Ask Metafilter by war wrath of wraith at 6:02 AM on November 16, 2006 (137 comments)

"Famous people who died in aviation accidents" -- notables and not-so-notables who have perished in crashes in the last 100 years.
posted to MetaFilter by persona non grata at 9:24 PM on July 16, 2006 (46 comments)