The audience exploded into applause. Every person in the room jumped up and began to wildly clap, as if racing each other to see who could get to their feet the fastest. The applause was all to honor the dictator Joseph Stalin at a 1937 conference of the Communist...
Some called it a murdering machine. But the question was: Who faced the greatest risk from this machine—the enemy or the men operating it? Eight men were jammed side by side in this cramped Civil War submarine, with walls 3½ feet apart and the ceiling about 4 feet...
The world-famous fantasy epic, Lord of the Rings, might never have been written if the author had not come down with a fever. The author of the trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien, was an officer for the British army during World War I. But when he came down with “trench...
Thirty-eight steps saved the life of Kayla Bergeron—and hundreds of other people. Bergeron says she was working on the 68th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center when two planes rammed the twin towers on September 11, 2001. “We made our way down,...
The "Lost Notebook" sounds like something that Indiana Jones would pursue through jungles and across sands. But for mathematicians worldwide, the quest for this rare gem has taken them on a much different path—through libraries and stacks and stacks of documents....
I’m not sure how he did it, but the late Michael Crichton supposedly wrote 10,000 words a day, which is the equivalent of about 40 pages. His keyboard must have been on fire by day’s end. But don’t be discouraged by such examples of insane productivity. His...
You may recall the classic VeggieTales video, Rack, Shack, and Benny, where the scheming zucchini, Nezzer, sings the infamous “Bunny Song.†Who can forget the lyrics, which talked about not wanting healthy food and loving the bunny, but not their dads or moms? In...
With a portrait of Abraham Lincoln looking on, Jackie Robinson sat at the mahogany desk across from Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. “Do you know why you were brought here?†Rickey asked Robinson, according to Arnold...
Whenever I see somebody writing in a noisy coffee shop, tapping away on a laptop, I wonder how in the world they can concentrate with all of the racket surrounding them. For me, the two major requirements for writing are quiet and no interruptions. In a crowded coffee...
My latest book, Of Moose and Men, has gone into its second printing three months after rolling off the press, my publisher, Harvest House, recently reported. I co-wrote Of Moose and Men with Torry Martin, a big red-headed ex-hippie from Tennessee, and one of the most...