Gore Vidal obituary Novelist, playwright and essayist with a complete mastery of the scene he described
Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit to be extended to three films Lord of the Rings director will add third film to turn JRR Tolkien adaptation into trilogy, with first set for release in December
US and EU blocking treaty to give blind people access to books Copyright fears stall talks on books being translated into braille for blind and visually impaired people in the global south
Batman comic delayed after Aurora shootings DC Comics holds back Batman Inc #3 owing to content 'too close for comfort' after The Dark Knight Rises shootings in Colorado
Sally Ride obituary America's first female astronaut whose 1983 space flight captured the world's imagination
We need the good life, not pre-washed salad leaves Edward Skidelsky: An economic system geared to the endless production of baubles and gadgets has led us to disregard our basic human needs
Japan finally embraces e-reader revolution Japan's leading online retailer Rakuten is hoping to see off Amazon's Kindle and corner the world's second-largest publishing market
Somaliland’s Hargeisa book festival celebrates fifth year Horn of Africa's answer to Hay-on-Wye fills cultural void for young in country where 70% of population are under 30
Comic-Con 2012 draws to an end, and Whedon whets the appetite Rory Carroll: The Con defies any overarching narrative, so I've simply picked out some favourite moments – and it'd be great to hear yours
Rousseau shows us that there is a way to break the chains – from within Anne Deneys-Tunney: Through the concept of the 'general will', Rousseau believed that the alienation of man could transform itself into freedom
Woody Guthrie at 100: the return of a pariah Billy Bragg: Woody Guthrie was shunned by his home state. Now Oklahoma can finally embrace the singer-songwriter's work
For Rousseau, man is born free, but kept free only by compassion Guy Dammann: The Big Ideas: A fundamental tenet of Rousseau's The Social Contract is that it is human institutions that set mankind free
John Donne, priest and poet, part 8: an expression of hope Roz Kaveney: How to believe: Devotions upon Emergent Occasions is accessible because it is the representation of a thought process