TED Talks
TED: A street librarian's quest to bring books to everyone | Storybook Maze
As a self-proclaimed radical street librarian, Storybook Maze makes books appear where they're scarce. Through initiatives like free, public book vending machines and street corner story times, she eliminates book deserts — or areas with...
SciShow
One Weird Reason People Suck at Parking
Human territoriality results in some pretty ridiculous behaviors. And luckily, scientists have studied it in all kinds of situations.
SciShow
Why Do Old Books Smell So Good?
Musty, with hints of vanilla, coffee, and maybe fresh cut grass-- why do old books smell the best?
PBS
The top library books people tried to ban or censor last year
Battles have erupted at schools, school boards and library meetings across the country as parents, lawmakers and advocacy groups are debating books. The American Library Association documented more than 1,200 demands to censor books and...
PBS
Christopher Curtis, Newberry Award Winner for 'Bud, Not Buddy' (Feb. 18, 2000)
Christopher Curtis, Newberry Award winner for "Bud, Not Buddy" (Feb. 18, 2000) (Author Interview)
TED Talks
George Dyson: The birth of the computer
Historian George Dyson tells stories from the birth of the modern computer -- from its 17th-century origins to the hilarious notebooks of some early computer engineers.
TED Talks
William Noel: Revealing the lost codex of Archimedes
How do you read a two-thousand-year-old manuscript that has been erased, cut up, written on and painted over? With a powerful particle accelerator, of course! Ancient books curator William Noel tells the fascinating story behind the...
TED Talks
TED: The mind-bending art of deep time | Katie Paterson
Short-sightedness may be the greatest threat to humanity, says conceptual artist Katie Paterson, whose work engages with deep time -- an idea that describes the history of the Earth over a time span of millions of years. In this lively...
TED Talks
TED: Everything you hear on film is a lie | Tasos Frantzolas
Sound design is built on deception -- when you watch a movie or TV show, nearly all of the sounds you hear are fake. In this audio-rich talk, Tasos Frantzolas explores the role of sound in storytelling and demonstrates just how easily...
TED Talks
William Kamkwamba: How I built a windmill
When he was just 14 years old, Malawian inventor William Kamkwamba built his family an electricity-generating windmill from spare parts, working from rough plans he found in a library book.
TED Talks
TED: New ways to understand life in a pandemic | Aaron Maniam
Poet and policymaker Aaron Maniam describes how the language we use to explain COVID-19 shapes the way we think about it -- whether it's as a "war," a "journey" or, as he suggests, an "ecology." He encourages us to explore a range of...
TED Talks
Richard Baraniuk: The birth of the open-source learning revolution
In 2006, open-learning visionary Richard Baraniuk explains the vision behind Connexions (now called OpenStax), an open-source, online education system. It cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share and modify course materials...
TED Talks
Naif Al-Mutawa: Superheroes inspired by Islam
In "THE 99," Naif Al-Mutawa's new generation of comic book heroes fight more than crime -- they smash stereotypes and battle extremism. Named after the 99 attributes of Allah, his characters reinforce positive messages of Islam and cross...
TED Talks
Brewster Kahle: A free digital library
Brewster Kahle is building a truly huge digital library -- every book ever published, every movie ever released, all the strata of web history ... It's all free to the public -- unless someone else gets to it first.
TED Talks
Chera Kowalski: The critical role librarians play in the opioid crisis
Public libraries have always been about more than just books -- and their mission of community support has taken on new urgency during the current opioid epidemic. After witnessing overdoses at her library in Philadelphia, Chera Kowalski...
TED Talks
Jay Walker: My library of human imagination
Jay Walker, curator of the Library of Human Imagination, conducts a surprising show-and-tell session highlighting a few of the intriguing artifacts that backdropped the 2008 TED stage.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What's the fastest way to alphabetize your bookshelf? - Chand John
You work at the college library. You're in the middle of a quiet afternoon when suddenly, a shipment of 1,280 books arrives. The books are in a straight line, but they're all out of order, and the automatic sorting system is broken. How...
SciShow
Einstein’s Greatest Mistake: SciShow Talk Show with David Bodanis
Hank gets to chat with David Bodanis: an author, and expert on Albert Einstein. They discuss Einstein's fame and his feelings about the aesthetics of science, as well as Bodanis' upcoming book: "Einstein's Greatest Mistake".
TED Talks
Joshua Prince-Ramus: Behind the design of Seattle's library
Architect Joshua Prince-Ramus takes the audience on dazzling, dizzying virtual tours of three recent projects: the Central Library in Seattle, the Museum Plaza in Louisville and the Charles Wyly Theater in Dallas.
TED Talks
TED: How to design a library that makes kids want to read | Michael Bierut
When Michael Bierut was tapped to design a logo for public school libraries, he had no idea that he was embarking on a years-long passion project. In this often hilarious talk, he recalls his obsessive quest to bring energy, learning,...
TED Talks
Jean-Baptiste Michel + Erez Lieberman Aiden: What we learned from 5 million books
Have you played with Google Labs' Ngram Viewer? It's an addicting tool that lets you search for words and ideas in a database of 5 million books from across centuries. Erez Lieberman Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel show us how it works,...
TED Talks
TED: A librarian's case against overdue book fines | Dawn Wacek
Libraries have the power to create a better world; they connect communities, promote literacy and spark lifelong learners. But there's one thing that keeps people away: the fear of overdue book fines. In this thought-provoking talk,...
TED Talks
TED: The board game getting kids excited about school | Joel Baraka
Going to school in a refugee camp can be complicated: students encounter crowded classrooms, rigid curricula and limited access to teachers. Joel Baraka, who grew up in the Kyangwali refugee camp in Uganda, is determined to change that...