A food editor befriends a chicken in his Queens backyard. A ten-year-old child prodigy learns quantum physics. A thief in Rome steals 1,000 euros-from the bottom of an outdoor fountain. These are the stories that make us smile, wonder, and think. They are real-life stories about real-life people, all of which have appeared on the pages of The New York Times.

A perfect primer on humanity, Tales from the Times will introduce new readers to people and places that captivate the mind. There are certain human- interest stories that people just can't stop talking about-twins separated at birth or a five-year-old taking his mother's car for a joyride. Now, in this wonderfully eclectic compilation of articles, readers will find many of the most talked about stories from The New York Times.

The New York Times spins off its human-interest stories just as its rival, the Wall Street Journal, recycled its offbeat profiles in Floating Off the Page (2002). Here are articles about a teenager riding the entire New York City subway system, street dentistry in Pakistan, a 10-year-old physics prodigy, twins separated at birth, a thief who steals coins from the outdoor fountains in Rome, and a chicken roosting in the backyard of the Times' restaurant critic. The 60 articles included resist categorization, except that, editor Belkin writes, Times reporters read their children to sleep with them. In this shared experience lies the origin of Belkin's collection, which she divides into such categories as "School" and "Sports." None of the featured people (except for cyclist Lance Armstrong) is famous, but appearing in the gray lady confers some fame, of course: follow-ups to various articles testify to their, and hence this volume's, popularity with Times' readers.