Books

A 1506 medical text included a diagnostic guide, but it was best used with caution.

Andy Weir on creating a believable food culture for his latest sci-fi novel.

In his 47 years at the Boston Athenaeum, Stanley Cushing has handled everything from a magnetic "Squid Book” to an autobiography bound in its author’s skin.

Atlas Obscura readers shared hundreds of stories about their surprising discoveries.

A transcriber on the Isle of Man can decipher almost anything.

What fascinating artifacts have you discovered while reading?

Great books for when you absolutely cannot face going outside.

A new exhibit focuses on maps of fictional worlds.

In the long-forgotten "Swastika Night," Hitler is a god, women are subhuman, and love is dead.

The arsenic-laden pages of "Shadows from the Walls of Death" should not be touched without gloves.

When a strange document appeared in her shop, an Australian bookseller turned detective.

"Cræft," Alexander Langlands' excellent book, is part history, part travelog, and part hay-making manual.

Gerald Winters's bookstore in Bangor, Maine, specializes in rare editions and type-written drafts.