Author Guide · Immersion Journalism
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Bianca Bosker quit her job as a technology editor to spend a year and a half training her palate: tasting blind with sommeliers, working the floor of New York restaurants and sitting the exam to become a certified sommelier. A few years later she did the same with the art world, taking jobs in galleries, in an artist's studio and as a museum guard. Before either, she had gone to China to see the towns built as copies of Paris, Venice and the English countryside. This guide covers all three of her books in order, and where to start.
By Lisanne Swart · 3 books · Immersion journalism · 2013–2024 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Bianca Bosker has published three books: Original Copies (2013), about Chinese towns built as replicas of Western ones; Cork Dork (2017), about the year and a half she spent becoming a sommelier; and Get the Picture (2024), about working her way into the art world. The last two use the same method of learning a closed world by joining it, which makes them the natural place to start.
Where to Start with Bianca Bosker
If you want the famous one
→ Cork Dork (2017).
If you want the most recent
→ Get the Picture (2024).
If you want to start where she started
→ Original Copies (2013).
All 3 Bianca Bosker Books, in Order
Original Copies
A study of China's replica towns and buildings, from copies of Parisian boulevards and an Eiffel Tower to whole English and Austrian villages, and what they say about modern China's ideas of luxury and success.
Cork Dork
Bosker left her job to learn wine from the inside: blind tastings with sommeliers, shifts on the floor of New York restaurants, visits to scientists studying smell, and finally the exam to become a certified sommelier. It became a New York Times bestseller, and was praised as the Kitchen Confidential of wine.
Get the Picture
Bosker set out to understand why contemporary art matters, and to get past the art world's gatekeepers she took jobs in galleries, in an artist's studio and as a museum guard. Like Cork Dork, it became a New York Times bestseller.
How Many Books Did Bianca Bosker Write?
Three books between 2013 and 2024.
- Immersion — Cork Dork (2017) and Get the Picture (2024). Read the entries →
- Architecture — Original Copies (2013). Read the entries →
In What Order to Read Bianca Bosker
Her books are not a series. Cork Dork and Get the Picture make a pair: the first is about learning to taste, the second about learning to see.
A reading path
1. Cork Dork (2017)
2. Get the Picture (2024)
3. Original Copies (2013)
Quick facts about Bianca Bosker
- Grew up
- Portland, Oregon
- Education
- Princeton University
- Before the books
- Executive technology editor at The Huffington Post
- Writes for
- The Atlantic, as a contributing writer
- Became
- A certified sommelier, while reporting Cork Dork
- Method
- Immersion: learning a closed world by working in it
- Books
- 3, from Original Copies (2013) to Get the Picture (2024)
How Bianca Bosker Writes: Learning by Doing
Bosker's method is apprenticeship. Rather than interviewing experts about their world, she tries to become competent in it herself, so that her books follow her own clumsy progress from outsider to insider.
Alongside the immersion she reads the science and history of her subject, from the biology of taste and smell in Cork Dork to the history of how art is valued in Get the Picture.
Frequently asked questions about Bianca Bosker's books
How many books has Bianca Bosker written?
Bianca Bosker has published three books: Original Copies (2013), Cork Dork (2017) and Get the Picture (2024).
What is Cork Dork about?
Cork Dork (2017) is about the year and a half Bosker spent learning wine from the inside, working in New York restaurants and training until she passed the exam to become a certified sommelier.
What is Get the Picture about?
Get the Picture (2024) is about Bosker's attempt to understand contemporary art by working in the art world, in galleries, an artist's studio and as a museum guard.
Footnotes
Bibliography last verified 1 October 2026.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all hers.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
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