Book picks similar to
Down in the Holler: A Gallery of Ozark Folk Speech by Vance Randolph
ozarks
non-fiction
reference
nonfiction
English-Russian, Russian-English Dictionary
Kenneth Katzner - 1984
Includes new political terminology, new Russian institutions, new countries and republics and new city names. Contains 26,000 entries in the English-Russian section and 40,000 words in the Russian-English section. Irregularities in Russian declensions and conjugations appear at the beginning of each entry.
Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance [With DVD]
Ric Gillespie - 2006
Dozens of books have offered a variety of solutions to the puzzle, but they all draw on the same handful of documents and conflicting eyewitness accounts. Now, a wealth of new information uncovered by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) allows this book to offer the first fully documented history of what happened. Scrupulously accurate and thrilling to read, it tells the story from the letters, logs, and telegrams that recorded events as they unfolded. Many long-accepted facts are revealed as myths. Author Ric Gillespie, TIGHAR's executive director, draws on the work of his organization's historians, archaeologists, and scientists, who compiled and analyzed more than five thousand documents relating to the Earhart case. Their research led to the hypothesis that Earhart and Noonan died as castaways on a remote Pacific atoll. But this book is not a polemic that argues for a particular theory. Rather, it presents all of the authenticated historical dots and leaves it to the reader to make the connections. In addition to details about the Earhart's career and final flight, the book examines her relationship with the U.S. government and the massive search undertaken by the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy. For serious students of Earhart's disappearance, an accompanying DVD reproduces the documents, reports, and technical studies cited in the text, allowing instant review and verification of the sources.
The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
Steven Pinker - 1994
With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association and the Public Interest Award from the Linguistics Society of America. This edition includes an update on advances in the science of language since The Language Instinct was first published.
A History of the English Language
Albert C. Baugh - 1951
The emphasis is on political, social and cultural forces that affect language. The fifth edition reflects the latest trends and statistics of the past 10 years in a revised and updated Chapter One, "English Present and Future." It also provides a new section on gender issues and linguistic change and includes a thorough revision of Chapter 11, "The English Language in America," including updated material on African American Vernacular English. Discusses Black English and varieties of English in both Africa and Asia, as well as varieties in the United States, Australia and Canada. Includes a map of American dialects. Provides examples of twentieth-century vocabulary. For multilingual readers or anyone who wishes to develop a well-rounded understanding of present-day English.
Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
Maryanne Wolf - 2007
Every new reader's brain possesses the extraordinary capacity to rearrange itself beyond its original abilities in order to understand written symbols. But how does the brain learn to read? As world-renowned cognitive neuroscientist and scholar of reading Maryanne Wolf explains in this impassioned book, we taught our brain to read only a few thousand years ago, and in the process changed the intellectual evolution of our species.Wolf tells us that the brain that examined tiny clay tablets in the cuneiform script of the Sumerians is configured differently from the brain that reads alphabets or of one literate in today's technology.There are critical implications to such an evolving brain. Just as writing reduced the need for memory, the proliferation of information and the particular requirements of digital culture may short-circuit some of written language's unique contributions—with potentially profound consequences for our future.Turning her attention to the development of the individual reading brain, Wolf draws on her expertise in dyslexia to investigate what happens when the brain finds it difficult to read. Interweaving her vast knowledge of neuroscience, psychology, literature, and linguistics, Wolf takes the reader from the brains of a pre-literate Homer to a literacy-ambivalent Plato, from an infant listening to Goodnight Moon to an expert reader of Proust, and finally to an often misunderstood child with dyslexia whose gifts may be as real as the challenges he or she faces.As we come to appreciate how the evolution and development of reading have changed the very arrangement of our brain and our intellectual life, we begin to realize with ever greater comprehension that we truly are what we read. Ambitious, provocative, and rich with examples, Proust and the Squid celebrates reading, one of the single most remarkable inventions in history. Once embarked on this magnificent story of the reading brain, you will never again take for granted your ability to absorb the written word.
The Big Book of American Facts: 1000 Interesting Facts And Trivia About USA (Trivia USA)
Bill O'Neill - 2016
From USA history to silly facts about American presidents, from laws you can’t believe are laws to facts about U.S. inventions, this book is the perfect solution to any moment of boredom. It has facts about religion and sports, facts about U.S. geography and nature, facts about food and drinks, and facts about language, animals, and American education. There are facts about science, facts about the military, facts about modes of transportation, facts about business and money, and facts about how big the United States really is. According to one American, “This book of trivia is the greatest thing that’s been written since the Nevada state Constitution. Did you know that was the longest message ever sent via Morse code telegram?” With this book of 1,000 trivia facts, you’ll impress even the most knowledgeable friends you have. Use the interesting facts to start a great conversation. Pull out the random facts to make someone smile. Be the center of any party with all the funny facts you’ll find in this book. Got a pub quiz or trivia night to go to? Prepare with this book! With this many fun facts about the United States, you’ll win every time.
The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago (or, How to Negotiate Good Relationships with Your Writers, Your Colleagues, and Yourself)
Carol Fisher Saller - 2009
Some are arcane, some simply hilarious—and one editor, Carol Fisher Saller, reads every single one of them. All too often she notes a classic author-editor standoff, wherein both parties refuse to compromise on the "rights" and "wrongs" of prose styling: "This author is giving me a fit." "I wish that I could just DEMAND the use of the serial comma at all times." "My author wants his preface to come at the end of the book. This just seems ridiculous to me. I mean, it’s not a post-face."In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller casts aside this adversarial view and suggests new strategies for keeping the peace. Emphasizing habits of carefulness, transparency, and flexibility, she shows copy editors how to build an environment of trust and cooperation. One chapter takes on the difficult author; another speaks to writers themselves. Throughout, the focus is on serving the reader, even if it means breaking "rules" along the way. Saller’s own foibles and misadventures provide ample material: "I mess up all the time," she confesses. "It’s how I know things."Writers, Saller acknowledges, are only half the challenge, as copy editors can also make trouble for themselves. (Does any other book have an index entry that says "terrorists. See copy editors"?) The book includes helpful sections on e-mail etiquette, work-flow management, prioritizing, and organizing computer files. One chapter even addresses the special concerns of freelance editors.Saller’s emphasis on negotiation and flexibility will surprise many copy editors who have absorbed, along with the dos and don’ts of their stylebooks, an attitude that their way is the right way. In encouraging copy editors to banish their ignorance and disorganization, insecurities and compulsions, the Chicago Q&A presents itself as a kind of alter ego to the comparatively staid Manual of Style. In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller continues her mission with audacity and good humor.
The Life and Works of Vincent Van Gogh
Janice Anderson - 1994
The quick brushstrokes of the Impressionists suited his temperament, as did his heavy use of impasto. This helpful volume shows many of van Gogh's best loved works, including the famous self-portrait with a Bandaged Ear, painted after he had cut off part of his ear in a fit of madness, Sunflowers, which were to him a symbol of power and beneficence, and The Starry Night, a painting which clearly expresses intensity and mental turbulence.
Iceland
Insight Guides - 2011
This guide covers the whole of the Iceland with full-color photographs and maps throughout.
St. John Off The Beaten Track
Gerald Singer - 1997
John was a still sleepy island, this updated version provides a respite from busy Cruz Bay. The guide offers an insiders view into the quintessential St. John with its hiking trails, scrambles and gut walks. Singer, a long time island resident, provides a framework for reference with lots of fast facts and an easy to read description of places of interest, flora and fauna, amidst a well laid backdrop of St. John s rich history and island legend. --Virgin Voice, December 2006 January 2007
Hodges' Harbrace Handbook (with InfoTrac) (Hodges' Harbrace Handbook with APA Update Card)
Cheryl Glenn - 2000
Bringing new insight to the comprehensive HODGES' HARBRACE HANDBOOK, Fifteenth Edition, rhetorician Cheryl Glenn and linguist Loretta Gray add their expertise to this market-leading handbook.
College Writing Skills with Readings
John Langan - 1993
College Writing Skills With Reading features John Langan's clear writing style and his wide range of writing assignments and activities that effectively reinforce the four essentials of good writing: unity, support, coherence, and sentence skills. This alternate version provides 25 entertaining and informative essays by professional writers.
Jamestown
Marshall William Fishwick - 2017
They would establish a British colony, find gold, and discover a water route to Asia. But what awaited them was far different - fire, hunger, sickness, death, even cannibalism. Here, from the noted historian Marshall W. Fishwick, is the dramatic story of Jamestown and the struggle of its leader, Captain John Smith, who, with the help of Pocahontas, daughter of the Algonquian chief Powhatan, succeeded against all odds.
The Grouchy Grammarian: A How-Not-To Guide to the 47 Most Common Mistakes in English Made by Journalists, Broadcasters, and Others Who Should Know Better
Thomas Parrish - 2002
Some of the most prominent professionals in TV broadcasting and at major newspapers and magazines-people who really should know better-are guilty of making all-too-common grammatical errors. In this delightfully amusing, clever guide, Thomas Parrish points out real-life grammar gaffes from top-notch publications such as the New York Times and the New Yorker to illustrate just how widespread these errors are. With red pen in hand, Parrish's fictional friend the Grouchy Grammarian leads the charge, examining the forty-seven most common mistakes in English and imparting the basics of good grammar with a charming mixture of fussiness and common sense. All of which makes The Grouchy Grammarian the most entertaining, accessible how-not-to guide you'll ever read.
The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention
Guy Deutscher - 2005
If we started off with rudimentary utterances on the level of "man throw spear," how did we end up with sophisticated grammars, enormous vocabularies, and intricately nuanced degrees of meaning?Drawing on recent groundbreaking discoveries in modern linguistics, Deutscher exposes the elusive forces of creation at work in human communication, giving us fresh insight into how language emerges, evolves, and decays. He traces the evolution of linguistic complexity from an early "Me Tarzan" stage to such elaborate single-word constructions as the Turkish sehirlilestiremediklerimizdensiniz ("you are one of those whom we couldn't turn into a town dweller"). Arguing that destruction and creation in language are intimately entwined, Deutscher shows how these processes are continuously in operation, generating new words, new structures, and new meanings.