Are there any human cultures, past or present, which have developed completely (or largely) distinct spoken and written languages? [more inside]
posted by nthdegx on Apr 20, 2009 - 22 answers

Who are the best magazine and newspaper feature writers, past and present? [more inside]
posted by reenum on Apr 8, 2009 - 20 answers

I'd like to broaden my horizons by getting a better understanding of life in different cultures and time periods. Please recommend great books or films (fiction or non-fiction) which paint a broad, immersive, reasonably accurate picture of a place and time. [more inside]
posted by MetaMonkey on Jul 12, 2008 - 29 answers

What one book will allow others to gain the truest insight into the soul of each city or region [more inside]
posted by reenum on May 6, 2008 - 16 answers

I'm looking for books that will help me improve my basic knowledge of geography, other countries and cultures. [more inside]
posted by shirobara on Dec 17, 2007 - 5 answers

We're big in our home country filter - I'm looking for bands that are famous back home, but not well known internationally. [more inside]
posted by BigBrownBear on Feb 9, 2006 - 67 answers