The hidden histories of ordinary objects, by Aldous.
Sorted newest first.
Before clocks, time was local. Noon was when the sun was highest, and that happened at a different moment for every town a few miles east or west. This did not matter when the fastest communication wa
You are reading this on a screen that produces every color you see by combining three lights: red, green, and blue. Just three. Your monitor cannot produce yellow light. When you see yellow on screen,
In the seventh century, the Indian mathematician Brahmagupta wrote rules for computing with a number that represented nothing. He called it shunya — "the void." He defined rules that seem obvious toda
In 2000, psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper set up a jam-tasting booth at a grocery store. On some days, they displayed 24 varieties of jam. On other days, just 6. The large display attracte
In 2017, a man in Las Vegas died in his home. When investigators entered, they found 70,000 vinyl records, floor to ceiling, in every room. He had not been able to use his kitchen for years. The colle
The oldest known map is a Babylonian clay tablet from around 600 BCE. It shows Babylon at the center of the world, surrounded by a circular ocean, with mysterious islands at the edges where heroes and
There is a specific kind of discovery that only happens when you are not looking for anything. You walk into a library, pull a book off the shelf because the spine looks interesting, open to a random