Le Guin retells the story of human origin by redefining technology as a cultural carrier bag rather than a weapon of domination.Hacking the linear, progressive mode of the Techno-Heroic, the Carrier Bag Theory of human evolution proposes: 'before the tool that forces energy outward, we made the tool that brings energy home.' Prior to the preeminence of sticks, swords and the Hero's long, hard, killing tools, our ancestors' greatest invention was the container: the basket of wild oats, the medicine bundle, the net made of your own hair, the home, the shrine, the place that contains whatever is sacred. The recipient, the holder, the story. The bag of stars.This influential essay opens a portal to terra ignota: unknown lands where the possibilities of human experience and knowledge can be discovered anew.With a new introduction by Donna Haraway, the eminent cyberfeminist, author of the revolutionary A Cyborg Manifesto and most recently, Staying with the Trouble and Manifestly Haraway. With images by Lee Bul, a leading South Korean feminist artist who had a retrospective at London's Hayward Gallery in 2018.

    In her groundbreaking first book, she brings together Zen meditation and writing in a new way. Writing practice, as she calls it, is no different from other forms of Zen practice--"it is backed by two thousand years of studying the mind." This edition includes a new preface and an interview with the author.

    The editor of the "Book Marketing Update" newsletter and author of "The Complete Direct Marketing Sourcebook" describes hundreds of ideas, tips, and suggestions for marketing books, all illustrated with real-life examples.

    But for some reason they choose to ignore those guidelines and churn out turgid, pompous, and obscure prose. Distinguished sociologist Howard S. Becker, true to his calling, looks for an explanation for this bizarre behavior not in the psyches of his colleagues but in the structure of his profession. In this highly personal and inspirational volume he considers academic writing as a social activity.Both the means and the reasons for writing a thesis or article or book are socially structured by the organization of graduate study, the requirements for publication, and the conditions for promotion, and the pressures arising from these situations create the writing style so often lampooned and lamented. Drawing on his thirty-five years' experience as a researcher, writer, and teacher, Becker exposes the foibles of the academic profession to the light of sociological analysis and gentle humor. He also offers eminently useful suggestions for ways to make social scientists better and more productive writers. Among the topics discussed are how to overcome the paralyzing fears of chaos and ridicule that lead to writer's block; how to rewrite and revise, again and again; how to adopt a persona compatible with lucid prose; how to deal with that academic bugaboo, "the literature." There is also a chapter by Pamela Richards on the personal and professional risks involved in scholarly writing.In recounting his own trials and errors Becker offers his readers not a model to be slavishly imitated but an example to inspire. Throughout, his focus is on the elusive work habits that contribute to good writing, not the more easily learned rules of grammar and punctuation. Although his examples are drawn from sociological literature, his conclusions apply to all fields of social science, and indeed to all areas of scholarly endeavor. The message is clear: you don't have to write like a social scientist to be one.

    And now Jon Franklin, himself a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and undisputed master of the great American nonfiction short story, shares the secrets of his success. Franklin shows how to make factual pieces come alive by applying the literary techniques of complication/resolution, flashback, foreshadowing, and pace. He illustrates his points with a close analysis and annotation of two of his most acclaimed stories, so that the reader can see, step-by-step, just how they were created. This lively, easy-to-follow guid combines readability and excitement with the best of expository prose and illuminates the techniques that beginning journalists—and more experienced ones, too—will find immensely helpful:Stalking the true short storyDrafting an effective outlineStructuring the rough copyPolishing like a proand the tips, tools, and techniques that will put your stories on the cutting edge

    The complete collection of 'the Tony Hancock of journalism' Jeffrey Bernard s first 'Low Life' Spectator series, with all the original illustrations"

    This new, expanded ninth edition of the best-selling guide to style is based on The Economist's own house style manual, and is an invaluable companion for everyone who wants to communicate with the clarity, style and precision for which The Economist is renowned. As the introduction says, 'clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought.' THE STYLE GUIDE gives general advice on writing, points out common errors and cliches, offers guidance on consistent use of punctuation, abbreviations and capital letters, and contains an exhaustive range of reference material - covering everything from accountancy ratios and stock market indices to laws of nature and science. Some of the numerous useful rules and common mistakes pointed out in the guide include: * Which informs, that defines. This is the house that Jack built. But This house, which Jack built, is now falling down. * Discreet means circumspect or prudent; discrete means separate or distinct.Remember that "Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are" (Oscar Wilde). * Fortuitous means accidental, not fortunate or well-timed.

    In it you will find an explanation of how the language works, which is something you need to understand if you are to learn to express yourself correctly and effectively. You will find exercises and writing assignments that you need for practice. The book will teach you the difference between an effective sentence and an ineffective one, between strong writing and weak writing. You will learn to express yourself in correct, clear and interesting English.

    Collections of interviews with notable modern writers

    

    Fro the most innocuous creep at the party (pigwidgeon) to the motormouth who tyrannizes the car pool (blateroon), the dirtiest old man on the block (pornogenarian) to the lock-jawed Connecticut debutante (dentiloquist), this guide offers sparkling proof that you need never again be at a loss for words.

    This anthology teaches writing by demonstrating the techniques and literary styles of established authors.

    These manuals seldom go beyond teaching how to avoid the problems of punctuation, grammar, and style that at one time or another ensnare the best of writers. Few, if any, of these books explore writing as a way of shaping thought.V.A. Howard and J.H. Barton, two Harvard researchers in education, take a radically different approach. While they agree with their predecessors that an important function of writing is the clear, direct expression of thought, they point out that many of our thoughts first come into being only when put to paper. By failing to recognize the link between thinking and writing, we fall into the deadlock innappropriately named writer's block.Thinking on Paper shows how writer's block as well as many other writing problems are engendered by the tendency, supported by traditional approaches, to separate thinking from writing. Drawing on the developing field of symbol theory, Howard and Barton explain why this sepapration is unsound and demonstrate how to improve dramatically our ability to generate and express ideas. For everyone who writes, this is a readable, accessible manual of immense educational and practical value.

    He shows you how to transform anxiety into "productive elation," how to separate vision from revision, and how to develop your own writing agenda.This book, based on his writing seminars, research into dreams and creativity, and film development, is, as the New York Times states, "crammed with the sort of useful advice that it seems to take some people years to learn."

    Based on the reference book, MODERN ENGLISH: A PRACTICAL REFERENCE GUIDE, the workbooks provide carefully controlled exercises in a logically built up sequence from parts of speech (Part I) to complex structures (Part II). There are abundant exercises on specific points of usage, with clear, concise explanations so that students can see the point of the exercise immediately. The second edition provides additional exercises in each book as well as many reviews and tests. Part II includes a special TOEFL preparation together with the answers.

    Based on the reference book, Modern English : A Practical Reference Guide, the workbooks provide carefully controlled exercises in a logically built up sequence form parts of speech (Part1) to complex structures (PartII)There are abundant exercises on specific points of usages, with clear, concise explanations so that students can see the point of the exercise immediately.

    Designed primarily for students in composition courses, Read to Write explains and demonstrates how writers read both their own works in progress and the published works of other writers in order to learn how to write more effectively.

    Now Elbow has drawn together twelve of his essays on the nature of learning and teaching to suggest a comprehensive philosophy of education. At once theoretical and down-to-earth, this collection will appeal not only to teachers, adminitrators and students, but to anyone with a love of learning.Elbow explores the contraries in the educational process, in particular his theory that clear thinking can be enhanced by inviting indecision, incoherence, and paradoxical thinking. The essays, written over a period of twenty-five years, are engaged in a single enterprise: to arrive at insights or conclusions about learning and teaching while still doing justice to the rich messiness of intellectual inquiry. Drawing his conclusions from his own perplexities as a student and as a teacher, Elbow discusses the value of interdisciplinary teaching, his theory of cooking (an interaction of conflicting ideas), the authority relationship in teaching and the value of specifying learning objectives. A full section is devoted to evaluation and feedback, both of students and faculty. Finally, Elbow focuses on the need to move beyond the skepticism of critical thinking to what he calls methodological belief--an ability to embrace more than one point of view.

    It is often witty or philosophical and this Dictionary gathers together over 7,000 such phrases.