When did novels stop being novel? Do comic books belong in school? How do you make a pop-up book, anyway? If you love books, then this playlist is for you. Watch the 5 TED-Ed Lessons below:

1. Who is Sherlock Holmes?

More than a century after first emerging into the fogbound, gaslit streets of Victorian London, Sherlock Holmes is universally recognizable. And yet many of his most recognizable features don’t appear in Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories. So who exactly is Sherlock Holmes? Who’s the real “great detective,” and where do we find him? Neil McCaw traces the evolution of Sherlock. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

2. The evolution of the book

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 than the sum of their parts. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

3. How fiction can change reality

Reading and stories can be an escape from real life, a window into another world — but have you ever considered how new fictional experiences might change your perspective on real, everyday life? From Pride and Prejudice to Harry Potter, learn how popular fiction can spark public dialogue and shape culture. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

4. Making a TED-Ed Lesson: Bringing a pop-up book to life

In ‘The Pangaea Pop-up’ Lesson, animator Biljana Labovic decided the best way to illustrate moving, shifting tectonic plates was to use a physical object that could also move and shift. Here, Labovic explains how she and her team of animators created a pop-up book to visualize Pangaea — and how you can make your own. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

5. Mining literature for deeper meanings

Writing a great English paper can be tough because literature doesn’t always reveal its deeper meanings immediately. You might not know Mr. Darcy’s true feelings for Elizabeth Bennett in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice or grasp the complex moral universe of Toni Morrison’s Beloved at first reading. Amy E. Harter offers a few tips on how to read and write more critically and thoughtfully. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

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Tags: Books