When you’re just too busy to curl up with a good book, these talks bring the beauty of literature in audio form.

Gabriel García Márquez's novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" brought Latin American literature to the forefront of the global imagination and earned García Márquez the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature. What makes the novel so remarkable? Francisco Díez-Buzo investigates. [TED-Ed Animation by Lucy Animation Studio]

Reading fiction can educate us emotionally, intellectually and spiritually, says Beth Ann Fennelly, creative writing professor and poet laureate of Mississippi. She makes the case for why we humans — and the world — continue to need literature.

In his influential poetry criticism, Stephen Burt links the contemporary with the classical, pinpoints new poetry movements, and promotes outstanding little-known poets.

These talks analyze the ways a story can enhance, alter and transform how we see the world around us.

Mounting his skinny steed, Don Quixote charges an army of giants. It is his duty to vanquish these behemoths in the name of his beloved lady, Dulcinea. There's only one problem: the giants are merely windmills. What is it about this tale of the clumsy yet valiant knight that makes it so beloved? Ilan Stavans investigates. [TED-Ed Animation by Av...

When you work for a corporation, confronted with negotiations and deals, what can fiction teach you? Christian Wickert believes writing fiction can sharpen your perceptions, help you understand others' motivations and ultimately make you better at your job. In this fascinating talk, he explains three ways creative writing improved his business s...

The prisoner strapped under a descending pendulum blade. A raven who refuses to leave the narrator's chamber. A beating heart buried under the floorboards. Poe's macabre and innovative stories of gothic horror have left a timeless mark on literature. But just what is it that makes Edgar Allan Poe one of the greatest American authors? Scott Peepl...

At face value the lines between verbal irony sarcasm and compliments can be blurry. After all the phrase 'That looks nice' could be all three depending on the circumstances. In the final of a three part series on irony Christopher Warner gets into the irony you may use most often and most casually: verbal irony. [Directed by Ben Pearce, narrated...

Parul Sehgal is an editor for "The New York Times Book Review."

Andrew Fitzgerald is shaping new ways for Twitter and journalists to work together.

What do we lose by choosing non-fiction over fiction? For Tomas Elemans, there's an important side effect of reading fiction: empathy -- a possible antidote to a desensitized world filled with tragic news and headlines.

This is our first episode of a new series — the TED Talks Daily Book Club. Join Elise as she interviews TED speakers about their books and their ideas beyond the page. First up: Geena Rocero, an award-winning producer, model, director and the author of "Horse Barbie: A Memoir." A stunning narrative at the center of transgender history and activi...

Whether you're a budding bibliophile or already in the throes of whirlwind romance with your favorite writers, these talks are for you!

Chip Kidd's book jacket designs spawned a revolution in the art of American book packaging.

A portly Miller, barely able to sit on his horse, rambles on about the flighty wife of a crotchety old carpenter and the scholar she takes as her lover. This might sound like a bawdy joke, but it's part of one of the most esteemed works of English literature ever created: The Canterbury Tales. Iseult Gillespie shares everything you need to know ...

Kurt Vonnegut found the tidy, satisfying arcs of many stories at odds with reality, and he set out to explore the ambiguity between good and bad fortune in his own novels. He tried to make sense of human behavior by studying the shapes of stories — ditching straightforward chronologies and clear-cut fortunes. Mia Nacamulli dives into the sometim...

What makes a book a book? Is it just anything that stores and communicates information? Or does it have to do with paper, binding, font, ink, its weight in your hands, the smell of the pages? To answer these questions, Julie Dreyfuss goes back to the start of the book as we know it to show how these elements came together to make something more ...

What is jealousy? What drives it, and why do we secretly love it? No study has ever been able to capture its "loneliness, longevity, grim thrill" -- that is, says Parul Sehgal, except for fiction. In an eloquent meditation she scours pages from literature to show how jealousy is not so different from a quest for knowledge.

Sergeant-Major Morris regaled his friends with epic tales from faraway lands— until one asked about an artifact the Sergeant had alluded to. Slowly, he produced the object: a mummified monkey’s paw. He explained that a holy man had imbued the paw with the power to grant three wishes to three men. But each wish comes with chilling consequences. I...

What drives someone to kill in cold blood? What goes through the murderer's mind? And what kind of a society breeds such people? Over 150 years ago Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky took these questions up in what would become one of the best-known works of Russian literature: "Crime and Punishment." Alex Gendler digs into the classic novel's expl...

It begins with a countdown. A woman goes into labor as the clock ticks towards midnight. Across India, people wait for the declaration of independence after nearly 200 years of British rule. At the stroke of midnight, an infant and two new nations are born in perfect synchronicity. These events form the foundation of "Midnight's Children." Iseul...

The myth of the bloodsucking vampire has stalked humans from ancient Mesopotamia to 18th-century Eastern Europe, but it has differed in the terrifying details. So, how did we arrive at the popular image we know, love and fear today? And what truly makes a vampire...a vampire? Michael Molina digs up the science and the superstition. [Directed by ...

How does the metaphorical lightbulb go off? Is it a flash of genius? The power of crowds? These heady talks explore the nature of ideas themselves: Where they come from, how they evolve, and how each of us can nurture them.

Novelist and nonfiction author Pico Iyer writes on subjects ranging from the Cuban Revolution to Islamic mysticism, from Graham Greene to forgotten nations and the 21st-century global order.

Inspired by Nigerian history and tragedies all but forgotten by recent generations of westerners, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novels and stories are jewels in the crown of diasporan literature.

Have you ever finished watching a talk and been eager to learn more? Long enough to explore a powerful idea but short enough to read in a single sitting, TED Books pick up where TED Talks leave off.

Ray Bradbury's novel imagines a world where books are banned- and possessing, let alone reading them, is forbidden.The protagonist, Montag, is a fireman responsible for destroying what remains. The story raises the question: how can you preserve your mind in a society where free will, self-expression and curiosity are under fire? Iseult Gillespi...

Former hippie, former jailbird, former aficionado of crack cocaine, Felix Dennis built one of the most successful privately owned magazine empires in the world.

Stories of werewolves have existed for thousands of years and continue to live on today. They're especially prominent in European literature and folklore, and often found in cultures where the wolf is the largest natural predator. Over the years its image has continuously evolved, often reflecting the fears and prejudices of that time. Craig Tho...