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In his long career as a sports columnist, Rick Reilly has covered the biggest games, including the Super Bowl and World Series. But for his new book, Sports from Hell, Reilly sought out the championships of decidedly less conventional sports, such as bull poker, chess boxing and jarts.

In April of 1943, the body of a British Royal Marine washed ashore in Spain, carrying top secret letters about Allied plans to invade Greece and Sardinia. Or so it seemed. In reality, the body was that of a homeless Welsh laborer, and the letters were fakes designed to direct German attention away from the real Allied invasion target: Sicily.

Marijuana laws have been liberalized in more than a dozen states, and in California, medical marijuana dispensaries are common. But that doesn't mean pot use is on the rise. According to government data, Americans who admit to using pot have been at about 6 percent since 2002.

What began as a Harvard-only website is now the social networking tool of almost 500 million people worldwide. David Kirkpatrick examines the site's short history and its long-term potential in The Facebook Effect.

The genius, if antisocial, protagonist of the Fox series House uses a barrage of cutting-edge tests and procedures to help diagnose his puzzling patients. But how much does that actually cost? We take a close look at one episode to find out.

John McGahern struggled for 10 years to write the novel Amongst Women. Fellow Irish author Colm Toibin says it was worth the wait: The pacing of the novel is masterly, he says, and its rhythms are filled with hidden emotion.

Linda Greenlaw took a decade off from commercial fishing, but the siren call of the deep blue water drew her back in. The only female swordfish boat captain in the United States recounts her latest adventure at sea in a new memoir, Seaworthy.

When the Hoover Dam was finished in 1935, it was three times larger than any other dam on the planet. Journalist Michael Hiltzik examines the humongous engineering achievement — including how the Hoover Dam was conceived, designed and built — in a new book, Colossus.

The summer sun may be shining, but vampires don't seem to be going anywhere. NPR's Margot Adler has read more than 100 vampire books this year, and gives a heads-up on two bloodsucking books expected to be summer blockbusters: Christopher Farnsworth's Blood Oath and Justin Cronin's The Passage.

Pawnshops, payday lenders, check cashers and rent-to-own companies take in $33 billion a year. In writing his new book, Broke, USA, Gary Rivlin discovered how the businesses justified making huge profits off the working poor.