Answer of the Day
When did paperback books come into existence? When you grab a book to take on your vacation or to read in line at the bank, chances are it's a paperback. Thanks to publisher Allen Lane, who released the first Penguin paperback novels in England on this date in 1935, we have lightweight, soft-covered books that we can slip into a pocket or a small bag for easy perusing. In 1960, dollar sales of paperbacks exceeded those of hardcover books, partially due to the banning of Penguin's unabridged paperback version of Lady Chatterley's Lover. Publication of the book was challenged under the Obscene Publications Act; the company was acquitted and Penguin sold two million copies during that Christmas season and another 1.3 million copies in 1961. Today e-books are beginning to give paperbacks a run for their money.

Quote
"The paperback is very interesting but I find it will never replace the hardcover book — it makes a very poor doorstop." — Alfred Hitchcock

Word of the day

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Today's History

Baltimore

• Baltimore: port town and industrial center was founded (1729)
• "La Marseillaise": the French national anthem was first sung in Paris (1792)
• In God We Trust: became the official motto of the US (1956)
• Kim Philby: the Soviet news service announced that the British intelligence officer and double agent had defected to the USSR (1963)
• Medicare: insurance program for senior citizens was signed into US law (1965)
• Jimmy Hoffa: the former Teamsters president disappeared in suburban Detroit; he has never been found, but he is presumed dead (1975)
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act: "Corporate Responsibility Act" — that tightened control of financial reporting and reduced the potential for fraud — was signed into law by President George Bush (2002)

Today's Birthdays

Simon Baker

• Emily Brontë (1818-1848): the author of Wuthering Heights
• Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929): political economist who coined the phrase "conspicuous consumption" in his The Theory of the Leisure Class
• Henry Ford (1863-1947): inventor who popularized mass production with the Ford Motor Company
• Casey Stengel (1890-1975): manager of the NY Yankees who led them to five straight championships
• Henry Moore (1898-1986): sculptor of reclining figures
• Arnold Schwarzenegger (63): action-movie star who became governor of California
• Simon Baker (41): The Mentalist, Patrick Jane; also, actors Jean Reno (62), Ken Olin (56), Delta Burke (54), Laurence Fishburne (49), Lisa Kudrow (47), Vivica A. Fox (46), Terry Crews (42), Hilary Swank (36), Jaime Pressley (33) and Yvonne Strahovski (28)