Why French Parents Are Superior

Book Reviews

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  The University of Adam Smith

  In the scramble for money and prestige, colleges lose their focus on education. A business executive thinks he has a solution. Naomi Schaefer Riley reviews "Change.edu."

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  Hail, the Conquering Heroine

  In "Barbara Stanwyck," Dan Callahan describes the life and art of the woman who taught Hollywood how to act.

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  The Brotherhood of the Butterfly Net

  Travelogues by the protégés of Carl Linnaeus, the 18th-century natural historian whose plant and animal classification systems are still in use today. Jennie Erin Smith reviews.

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  Photo-Op: Orange Crush

  "Impact" catches the passion of America's best designers: from Abboud to Zuckerman by way of Bill Blass, Derek Lam and Patricia Underwood.

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  Modern Reliquaries

  Why are we obsessed with the lives of our favorite authors? "Freud's Couch, Scott's Buttocks, Brontë's Grave" is Simon Goldhill's account of his visits to five literary shrines, including Wordsworth's cottage and Shakespeare's birthplace. Eric Ormsby reviews.

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  The Ultimate Brain Quest

  Deciphering how human thought works is mind-bendingly difficult, but at least researchers now know where to start. The goal: mapping the thousands of connections made by millions of neurons that encode all our hopes, desires, beliefs and memories.

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  The Doges of War

  In "City of Fortune," Roger Crowley revisits Venice's imperial glory, arguing that no other city was so well organized for trade. William H. McNeill reviews.

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  The Blame Game

  Where does our propensity to blame others come from? One theory traces the habit to Eve, who reproached a talking snake for persuading her to pick the forbidden fruit. Dave Shiflett reviews "Scapegoat."

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  Homage to a Visionary Matriarch

  For children of different age groups, two biographies of the remarkable founder of the Girl Scouts. And an altogether unique picture book, "Fish on a Walk," that is full of visual tricks and hidden surprises.

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  City of Lost Children

  Katherine Boo's "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" is a brilliant narration of three years in the life of a slum in Mumbai. Karan Mahajan reviews.

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  Life With and Without Tradition

  Nathan Englander returns to the short story form with his new collection, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank." In another story collection, Dan Chaon's dread-suffused "Stay Awake," the dominant theme is the all-too-haunting legacy of a death in the family. Anthony Giardina's novel, "Norumbega Park," explores the intersection of ambition and the humbling forces of time and chance. Sam Sacks reviews.

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  Fragile China

  A novel that tells the story of the search for an entire month erased from official Chinese history. Howard W. French reviews "The Fat Years" by Chan Koonchung.

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  Five Best Books: Boundary-Pushing Women

  Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer John Matteson on memorable portraits of Katharine Hepburn, Emily Brontë, newspaper publisher Katharine Graham, photographer Dorothea Lange and the Federalist-era women's rights advocate Judith Sargent Murray.

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  Digital Doctoring

  The digital revolution can spur unprecedented advances in the medical sciences, argues Eric Topol in "The Creative Destruction of Medicine."

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  In Praise of the Gross

  Making a case that it was the insolent tone of "Tropic of Cancer"—more than the now tame sex scenes—that incited the book-banners. Lee Sandlin reviews "Renegade."

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  Occupy Elm Street

  What if computer software could be designed to read human panic, or even create it—and then invest accordingly? Tom Nolan reviews "The Fear Index."