WHY? is our attempt to answer all the questions every little kid asks. Do you have a question? Send it to why.Have you ever noticed that your fingers and toes get wrinkled when you’ve been soaking in water for a while? We often call this “prune hands,” be...
WRI
It is fair to say that while most members of the English and Scottish royal families have died from disease, in battle, or in childbirth, such a long history has thrown up the occasional peculiarity. Here are 10 British royals who, according to their chro...
Do you know what controversial philosophy Alisa Rosenbaum used her fiction to promote? Or which best-selling fantasy series James Rigney died before completing?You know their booksbut you probably dont recognize their names. Like many authors, they publis...
No matter the form of media, good writing can be admired like good cooking. A suspenseful intro hook thrown in to simmer with an intriguing storyline, seasoned by a logical plot, as well as a satisfying ending is as much akin to a meal as I can think of. ...
In case you missed the news, Listverse is officially a teenager. Among other issues, this helps explain its sudden mood swings, sarcastic tone and suspected drug use. Regardless, pumping out multiple daily lists for more than 4,700 days is quite an accomp...
Charlotte Brontë was born in England to an Irish father and Cornish mother on April 21, 1816. Though much of her life was marked by tragedy, she wrote novels and poems that found great success in her lifetime and are still popular nearly 200 years later. ...
Doctor Who officially has a 14th Doctor. Ncuti Gatwa, who has been nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for three years in a row for his part on Netflix’s Sex Education, will take over the role of the iconic Time Lord from Jodie Whittaker.“It feels really amazi...
People are reported missing all the time, leaving authorities and loved ones to piece together clues and come up with theories. Sometimes, there are logical explanations, But other times, there are no clear theories, and the mystery remains unsolved. Not ...
H. P. Lovecrafts influence on literature is undeniable. Stephen King, the current king of horror, describes him as the twentieth centurys greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale. His influence also extends beyond the literary world. For instance,...
He’s the only actor to appear in Star Wars, the Hammer horror films, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the James Bond franchise—indeed, Christopher Lee, born 100 years ago on May 27, 1922, had one very impressive life. (Not to mention several impressive ...
The plot of Virginia Woolf’s fifth novel, To the Lighthouse, is thin: The Ramsey family and their guests are on vacation and decide to put off a trip to a nearby lighthouse until a later visit. The book has thrilled and frustrated readers since it was pub...
Years after she founded Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis was dining at the Tea Room at Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia. She saw they were offering a "Mother’s Day Salad." She ordered the salad and when it was served, she stood up, dumped it ...
Everyone from authors and politicians to a former first lady and a comic book character once worked among the bookshelves at a library.1. Mao ZedongBefore he led the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong worked as a librarian's assistant at Peking Univ...
Prison literature is a fully formed genre. While locked up many people find the reflexive outlet of writing a way to pass the monotony. Others find that they feel they must write to express some wrong, either against themselves or others. While imprisonme...
This lister is not an expert on the literature of every language on Earth, and since there are well over 6,000 more, follow-ups are certainly welcome. These entries are listed in no particular order. You are welcome to suggest other runners-up if you feel...
Do you like the idea of being paid to write? Well, youve come to right place. In case you hadnt heard: Listverse is on the lookout for new talent. If youve got an idea and a knack for putting words together, we want to pay you US $100. No joke. Our submis...
Theatre can hit you hard and fast if youre in the right mood. It is more immediate than film and television, it asks you to sympathize with the characters, no matter how cruel they can be, and it is never exactly the same each time you go. While musicals ...
Did you have an English teacher who read way too much into what a poem really meant? That teacher has nothing on fans of the Roman poet Virgil (also spelled Vergil): They believed his poetry could be used to predict everything from the outcomes of battles...
Outside of Marie Curie, how many other famous female scientists can you name? What were their discoveries? For most, the answer is not very many. Women have been very underrepresented in the world of science and this is not to say that its because they ha...
So you want to be a writer? If you even bothered to click on this list, youve already admitted it to yourself. Maybe writing is your passion. Maybe its your hobby. Or maybe youve just run into an awful article somewhere on the Web and thought to yourself,...
