Writing with her customary charm and erudition, Dent offers a wonderfully readable and endlessly entertaining exploration of language, answering 101 of the most intriguing questions about the English language, from word origins and spelling to grammar and usage. Dent ranges far and wide in her search for the oddities of language, pondering the ancient origin of the word tragedy (which originally meant goat song in Greek) as well as the modern meaning of the word donk in the Blackout Crew's song title Put a Donk in It. And throughout, the book brims with fascinating tales. Readers learn, for instance, that the word bankrupt comes from the Italian banca rotta or broken bench and the word broke (meaning out of funds) has the same origin. Dent explains that in the sixteenth century, money lenders conducted their business on benches outdoors and the usual Italian word for bench was banca (hence today's bank). The author also provides an entertaining account of the origin of the term white elephant (meaning a useless, burdensome possession) that dates back to ancient Siam, where rare white elephants were always given to the king. But since by law white elephants couldn't be worked (and earn money) or even be ridden, the king often re-gifted these worthless burdens to courtiers whom he didn't like. Sparkling with insight and linguistic curiosity, this delightful compendium will be irresistible to anyone fascinated with language--the perfect gift for word lovers everywhere.

    But in the 1950s and 1960s, they were a pop culture phenomenon. The Great Books of Western Civilization, fifty-four volumes chosen by intellectuals at the University of Chicago, began as an educational movement, and evolved into a successful marketing idea. Why did a million American households buy books by Hippocrates and Nicomachus from door-to-door salesmen? And how and why did the great books fall out of fashion?In A Great Idea at the Time Alex Beam explores the Great Books mania, in an entertaining and strangely poignant portrait of American popular culture on the threshold of the television age. Populated with memorable characters, A Great Idea at the Time will leave readers asking themselves: Have I read Lucretius’s De Rerum Natura lately? If not, why not?

    Author Phil Cousineau takes us on a tour into the obscure territory of word origins with great erudition and endearing curiosity. The English poet W. H. Auden was once asked to teach a poetry class, and when 200 students applied to study with him, he only had room for 20 of them. When asked how he chose his students, he said he picked the ones who actually loved words. So too, with this book -- it takes a special wordcatcher to create a treasure chest of remarkable words and their origins, and any word lover will relish the stories that Cousineau has discovered.

    Twenty-two years later, he did. April 1945 – Berlin. The world had been at war for more than five-and-a-half years – approximately seventy million people were dead across the globe. The epicentre of the twelve-year-old Third Reich was now surrounded, enveloped by bitter Soviet forces hardened by Nazi barbarity in the east over the last four years. As the buildings were blasted into rubble, pounded by Russian guns and bombs, before their troops and tanks, Hitler was hunkered down in his last headquarters – the dark and damp bunker under the Reich Chancellery. As the Third Reich began to crumble as fast as the city’s buildings, what was the state of mind of the tyrant? Only his closest and fanatical allies saw the collapse, none more so than Hitler’s servants, Otto Gunsche and Heinz Linge – two individuals which witnessed the final act of their regime. An act tinged over the last ten days in late April with selfish betrayal, increasingly forlorn hope, pleas, desperation and eventually suicide. As the Soviets closed in with impending vigour, in the concrete tomb below ground and under the thunderous booms of the petrifying battle for Berlin, the mind of the dictator disintegrated into drugs, delusion and a determination to die. Not by the enemy bullet but one of his own. This is the story of the people who held a unique place in world history – the ones who were there when the nightmare of Nazism and the horrors which accompanied it was finally banished as a dark chapter in the story of the human race.

     This book will give you a comprehensive overview of the Canadian history. Author James Weber did the research and compiled this huge list of events that changed the course of this nation forever. Some of them include: - Prehistoric hunters cross over into North America from Asia (30,000 - 10,000 BC) - The Inuit people begin to move into what are now the Northwest Territories (2000 BC) - Leif Ericsson leads Viking expedition to the new World (C.1000 AD) - Martin Frobisher sails to the Hudson Bay (1576) - Samuel de Champlain establishes a French colony (1608) - Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye returns Québec to France (1632) - Treaty of Utrecht (1713) - Great Britain founds Halifax (1749) - The USA invades British colonies (1812-14) - The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan are created (1905) - World War II (1939-45) - The St Lawrence Seaway Opens (1959) - The Québec referendum on sovereignty is narrowly defeated (1995) - Canada declines to enter the War in Iraq (2003) and many many more The book includes pictures and explanations to every event, making this the perfect resource for students and anyone wanting to broaden their knowledge in histoy. Download your copy now! Tags: history, world history, history books, history of the world, human history, world history textbook, history books for kids, earth history, geographic history, earth history kindle, human history, history books for kids age 9 12, history of the world part 1, canadian history nonfiction, history books for kids age 7-9, history books for young readers, history books for children, canadian history books, history books for kindle, canadian history encyclopedia, canadian history, canadian history books, canadian history for dummies, canadian history textbook, canada history books, canada history, canada

    A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question. The books in the series will all follow the same structure:a biography of the novelist, including other works, influences, and, in some cases, an interview; a full-length study of the novel, drawing out the most important themes and ideas; a summary of how the novel was received upon publication; a summary of how the novel has performed since publication, including film or TV adaptations, literary prizes, etc.; a wide range of suggestions for further reading, including websites and discussion forums; and a list of questions for reading groups to discuss.

    Get this Amazing #1 Amazon Top Release - Great Deal! You can read on your PC, Mac, smartphone, tablet or Kindle device. Bitcoin is not just a new word in the Internet age or technological and financial progress, it's a start of a new era on the Earth! Even 10 years ago we even couldn't imagine dreaming about digital money - you can't physically touch them but you can own and spend them. Today this is a reality! Bitcoin revolution covered the whole world like a huge wave, more and more people interested in this "Digital Gold". Over the past few years, Bitcoin has grown from something known only to a select few tech nerds into a revolutionary currency that has rapidly changed the way that we think about the concept of money. You no doubt see Bitcoin payments accepted in all kinds of places now, but, if you can believe it, it used to be a fairly complicated procedure for finding places that let you pay in Bitcoin. Anyway, to run the world you need to know everything. We can't guarantee that you will know EVERYTHING from this book, but we can guarantee you will have the notion of a new currency - Bitcoin. What is it? Where did it come from? How do you use it? Is it really just fake internet money created by drug dealers? That is precisely what we will be answering in this book. We’ll cover everything you need to know in order to get started with Bitcoin: understanding the Blockchain and Bitcoin transactions where to keep your Bitcoin (how to choose a secure wallet) buying Bitcoin investing in Bitcoin how to start accepting and using Bitcoin as a part of your business principles of Bitcoin mining the security of Bitcoin etc. Also, the author will share with you interesting facts about Bitcoin and will give you professional tips on the start of your way in Bitcoin family! Ready to take on the Bitcoin world yet? I hope so. I’d like to be the first to officially welcome you to the world of Bitcoin!

    Replete with illustrative scenarios and topics for discussion and writing, this professional title provides the pedagogical overview that ESL/EFL teachers need to teach with Atlas, Go For It!, Listen In, and Expressions!

    The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years - from ‘The Remains of the Day' to ‘White Teeth'. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.

    In what will likely become the introduction to the history of the Spanish language, David Pharies clearly and concisely charts the evolution of Spanish from its Indo-European roots to its present form. An internationally recognized expert on the history and development of this language, Pharies brings to his subject a precise sense of what students of Spanish linguistics need to know.After introductory chapters on what it means to study the history of a language, the concept of linguistic change, and the nature of language families, Pharies traces the development of Spanish from its Latin roots, all with the minimum amount of technical language possible.  In the core sections of the book, readers are treated to an engaging and remarkably succinct presentation of the genealogy and development of the language, including accounts of the structures and peculiarities of Latin, the historical and cultural events that deeply influenced the shaping of the language, the nature of Medieval Spanish, the language myths that have become attached to Spanish, and the development of the language beyond the Iberian Peninsula, especially in the Americas. Focusing on the most important facets of the language’s evolution, this compact work makes the history of Spanish accessible to anyone with a knowledge of Spanish and a readiness to grasp basic linguistic concepts.Available in both English and Spanish editions, A Brief History of the Spanish Language provides a truly outstanding introduction to the exciting story of one of the world’s great languages.

    Each word in Biblical Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic is numbered, presented in Greek/Hebrew script and in transliteration and is accompanied by a pronunciation guide. Each word is defined in English, and the translation(s) of that word in the Authorized English Version are presented. Strong's work was originally published in 1890 under the titles A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Hebrew Bible; with their Renderings in the Authorized English Version and A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek New Testament; with their Renderings in the Authorized English Version. They were bound together with Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.Beautiful Greek, Hebrew in This E-BookThis digital edition of Strong's classic work is distinctive in not only presenting the Greek and Hebrew/Aramaic in their respective scripts but doing so using in an aesthetically pleasing manner that looks great on the Kindle. All Greek and Hebrew is accompanied by beautiful transliteration; you do not need to know Greek or Hebrew to make use of this e-book.Superior Navigation Features in This E-BookThis digital edition of Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionary of the Bible recognizes that you do not generally read dictionaries linearly. As a result, there are multiple options provided for powerful and rapid navigation. Note that navigation details might be different in the various Kindle applications for platforms other than the Kindle itself.First, when you click on Go to in the menu, you have the option of selecting Table of Contents. This Table of Contents provides hyperlinks to each letter of the dictionary, first for Hebrew and then for Greek, along with the range of Strong's numbers for that letter. Clicking on a link to a letter provides a list of options for the first two letters of the word as well as the range of Strong's numbers for that letter combination. Once you click on the desired two-letter combination, you can flip the page to get to the desired entry if need be.Second, when you are reading, clicking the 5-way controller to the right will advance you to the hyperlinked list for the next letter of the alphabet. Clicking the 5-way controller to the left does similarly.Third, you can navigate directly to a particular glossary entry by clicking on Index in the menu and typing in the letter "g" followed by the Strong's number for that entry for Greek, or "h" followed by the Strong's number for that entry for Hebrew. For example, to navigate to the entry for Strong's Hebrew #1234, simply type "h1234" into the text box and hit enter. To navigate to the entry for Strong's Greek #1234, simply type "g1234" into the text box and hit enter. This option is not available on first generation Kindles and might not be available on Kindle applications.Fourth, you can navigate directly to a particular glossary entry by clicking on Index in the menu and typing in the word in transliteration, preceded by "g " for Greek and "h " for Hebrew/Aramaic. For Greek, use the same SBL transliteration scheme used in this book, leaving off any diacritics and using all lower-case. For example, to navigate to the entry for Strong's #124, Aígyptos, simply type "g aigyptos" in the text box and hit enter.

    L. Mencken's book about the English language as spoken in the United States. Mencken was inspired by "the argot of the colored waiters" in Washington, as well as one of his favorite authors, Mark Twain, and his experiences on the streets of Baltimore. In 1902, Mencken remarked on the "queer words which go into the making of 'United States.'" The book was preceded by several columns in The Evening Sun. Mencken eventually asked "Why doesn't some painstaking pundit attempt a grammar of the American language... English, that is, as spoken by the great masses of the plain people of this fair land?" It would appear that he answered his own question. In the tradition of Noah Webster, who wrote the first American dictionary, Mencken wanted to defend "Americanisms" against a steady stream of English critics, who usually isolated Americanisms as borderline barbarous perversions of the mother tongue. Mencken assaulted the prescriptive grammar of these critics and American "schoolmarms", arguing, like Samuel Johnson in the preface to his dictionary, that language evolves independently of textbooks. The book discusses the beginnings of "American" variations from "English", the spread of these variations, American names and slang over the course of its 374 pages. According to Mencken, American English was more colorful, vivid, and creative than its British counterpart. The book sold exceptionally well by Mencken's standards-1400 copies in the first two months. Reviews of the book praised it lavishly, with the exception of one by Mencken's old nemesis, Stuart Sherman. source: Wikipedia

    

    It's a great project for families and foodies alike, and all you need to start off is this book, a specialist mushroom growing kit, and a small space in which to grow them!In this book I aim to teach you the basics that you need to know to grow mushrooms at home. You'll take a step back in time and learn about the history of mushrooms as food, and why it has taken centuries for home mushroom growing to really catch on. I'll let you know exactly which are the best types of mushrooms for you to start with. If you aren't sure what tools you'll need, don't worry - this book has that covered too. And I'll explain how to make sure that your mushrooms grow quickly and pest free, and the best ways to harvest, preserve and store your crop.But where should you grow your mushrooms? That's a good question! Contained within the pages of this book are tips on how to set up a mushroom patch in your back yard, as well as how to grow them inside. Is it really better to grow them completely in the dark? You are about to find out!So, whether you like shiitakes, portobellos or oyster mushrooms, stop buying them in stores. I'll teach you how to grow your own and keep your entire family well supplied.In as little as a few weeks you can have the perfect fresh mushrooms grown and ready to eat. Yum!This easy to read, beginners book, summarizes the essential information I have learned over the years, and is written to help you decide if mycology is for you, and if so, which route to take.

    In this new edition, new studies have been incorporated and the evaluation sections in each chapter have been expanded, ensuring that the book remains as fresh, engaging and useful as the day it was first published.