The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English


Henry Hitchings - 2008
    An average person spends his or her day enveloped in conversations, e-mails, phone calls, text messages, directions, headlines, and more. But how often do we stop to think about the origins of the words we use? Have you ever thought about which words in English have been borrowed from Arabic, Dutch, or Portuguese? Try admiral, landscape, and marmalade, just for starters. The Secret Life of Words is a wide-ranging account not only of the history of English language and vocabulary, but also of how words witness history, reflect social change, and remind us of our past. Henry Hitchings delves into the insatiable, ever-changing English language and reveals how and why it has absorbed words from more than 350 other languages—many originating from the most unlikely of places, such as shampoo from Hindi and kioskfrom Turkish. From the Norman Conquest to the present day, Hitchings narrates the story of English as a living archive of our human experience. He uncovers the secrets behind everyday words and explores the surprising origins of our most commonplace expressions. The Secret Life of Words is a rich, lively celebration of the language and vocabulary that we too often take for granted.

Sikhs: The Untold Agony Of 1984


Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay - 2015
    She claimed the police had inserted a stick inside her… Swaranpreet realised that she had been cruelly violated; He spoke a single sentence but repeated it twice in chaste Punjabi: ‘Please give me a turban? I want nothing else…’ These are voices begging for deliverance in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination in October-November 1984 in which 2,733 Sikhs were killed, burnt and exterminated by lumpens in the country. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay walks us through one of the most shameful episodes of sectarian violence in post Independent India and highlights the apathy of subsequent governments towards Sikhs who paid a price for what was clearly a state-sponsored riot. Poignant, raw and most importantly, macabre, the personal histories in the book reveal how even after three decades, a community continues to battle for its identity in its own country.

Just Say Nu: Yiddish for Every Occasion (When English Just Won't Do)


Michael Wex - 2007
    From the author of the hilarious bestseller Born to Kvetch comes an indispensable guide to the Yiddish language.

The Judas Conspiracy


Robert B. Williams - 2018
    Williams ** An armed assault force raids the marble halls of the British Museum. The target – the most heinous relic of all time – the last surviving coin of the blood money paid to Judas Iscariot for his betrayal of Christ.For over a thousand years the cursed pieces of silver cut a swath of famine, pestilence and ruinous destruction wherever they were carried. To save humanity from the malevolent power of the coins, the Knights Templar were given a Papal Blessing and sent on a pilgrimage to the holy lands to find and hide the thirty pieces of silver.A sinister organization has unlocked a chilling secret—the ability to control the power of the coin and use it as a terrifying weapon, posing the greatest threat to mankind in history.Sanford Carter, antiquities thief and ladies’ man, has been ensnared by the secret service and forced to execute a daring burglary on their behalf. His mission is simple – steal the coin first.Sarah Hudson, the studious and law-abiding archaeologist who doesn’t believe in curses, only science, is in the wrong place at the wrong time and refuses to hand over the coin or allow Carter to get away with his bold crime.With ruthless dark forces closing in, the brazen thief and the scholarly archaeologist must unlock the hidden history of the coin if they are to safeguard humanity from its evil curse.From the cobbled streets of London to the spectacular volcanic landscapes of Iceland, The Judas Conspiracy sets a cracking pace from the start and never lets up. For fans of James Rollins, Matthew Reilly, Michael C. Grumley, A.G. Riddle, Rob Jones, Matt Rogers, James D. Prescott, Brad Thor, Douglas E. Richards, Clive Cussler and David Baldacci

The Great English-Polish Dictionary (2 million words): interactive - replaces the standard Kindle e-reader dictionary


Dariusz Jemielniak - 2014
    Marcin Milkowski, Ph.D. and Prof. Dariusz Jemielniak, Ph.D. It is the largest English-Polish dictionary ever published. It contains over 1.8 million words, covering hundreds of thousands of meanings in over two hundred thousand definitions, includign abbreviations, synonyms, antonyms, et al. Its range is over 20% wider than in the case of any dictionary published before.It is also the first English-Polish dictionary developed in the 21st century, basing on actual English language usage and frequencies (based on corpora of American, British, and Canadian English), covering not only general vocabulary, but also terminology and idioms typical for business, finance, law, medicine, the sciences and technology, including over 150 disciplines! It is the first English-Polish dictionary including words such as QWERTY, screenager, smartphone, tablet or boccia, with their proper pronunciation. The dictionary can replace the standard Kindle e-reader dictionary, to allow one-click lookups (please, note that this functionality is typical for all Kindle e-readers, but not necessarily a tablet).

The Bedford Handbook


Diana Hacker - 1991
    Now with the strongest coverage of research writing in a full-sized handbook, the seventh edition helps students meet one of the core challenges of academic writing: maintaining their own voice while writing from sources. This edition also adds innovative tips from writing center tutors, sound advice for writing across the curriculum, and substantially more help for writing with and writing about visuals.

Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping


Matthew Salesses - 2021
     The traditional writing workshop was established with white male writers in mind; what we call craft is informed by their cultural values. In this bold and original examination of elements of writing—including plot, character, conflict, structure, and believability—and aspects of workshop—including the silenced writer and the imagined reader—Matthew Salesses asks questions to invigorate these familiar concepts. He upends Western notions of how a story must progress. How can we rethink craft, and the teaching of it, to better reach writers with diverse backgrounds? How can we invite diverse storytelling traditions into literary spaces?Drawing from examples including One Thousand and One Nights, Curious George, Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea, and the Asian American classic No-No Boy, Salesses asks us to reimagine craft and the workshop. In the pages of exercises included here, teachers will find suggestions for building syllabi, grading, and introducing new methods to the classroom; students will find revision and editing guidance, as well as a new lens for reading their work. Salesses shows that we need to interrogate the lack of diversity at the core of published fiction: how we teach and write it. After all, as he reminds us, "When we write fiction, we write the world."

Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction


Tracy Kidder - 2013
    The story begins in 1973, in the offices of The Atlantic Monthly, in Boston, where a young freelance writer named Tracy Kidder came looking for an assignment. Richard Todd was the editor who encouraged him. From that article grew a lifelong association. Before long, Kidder’s The Soul of a New Machine, the first book the two worked on together, had won the Pulitzer Prize. It was a heady moment, but for Kidder and Todd it was only the beginning of an education in the art of nonfiction.Good Prose explores three major nonfiction forms: narratives, essays, and memoirs. Kidder and Todd draw candidly, sometimes comically, on their own experience—their mistakes as well as accomplishments—to demonstrate the pragmatic ways in which creative problems get solved. They also turn to the works of a wide range of writers, novelists as well as nonfiction writers, for models and instruction. They talk about narrative strategies (and about how to find a story, sometimes in surprising places), about the ethical challenges of nonfiction, and about the realities of making a living as a writer. They offer some tart and emphatic opinions on the current state of language. And they take a clear stand against playing loose with the facts. Their advice is always grounded in the practical world of writing and publishing.Good Prose—like Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style—is a succinct, authoritative, and entertaining arbiter of standards in contemporary writing, offering guidance for the professional writer and the beginner alike. This wise and useful book is the perfect companion for anyone who loves to read good books and longs to write one.

You Can Read Anyone: Never Be Fooled, Lied To, or Taken Advantage of Again


David J. Lieberman - 2007
    Because the techniques can be applied instantly to any person in just about any situation, Dr. Lieberman has demonstrated their ease and accuracy on hundreds of television and radio programs. In a special report for FOX News, host Jeff Rosin declared, "It's simply amazing! I was with him and he was never wrong . . . not even once. I even learned how to do it and that's saying something." In fact, Dr. Lieberman has gone "head-to-head" on live television, with skilled polygraph examiners and scored just as well-every time. You Can Read Anyone shows step-by-step exactly how to tell what someone is thinking and feeling in real-life situations. And when the stakes are high-negotiations, interrogations, questions of abuse, theft, or fraud-- knowing who is out for you, and who is out to get you (or a loved one) can save you time, money, energy, and heartache. The New York Times put it best. In a feature article they simply said, "Don't lie to David Lieberman". And now you too, can learn the most important psychological tools governing human behavior and do more than just put the odds in your favor. Set up the game so that you can't lose. A peak inside: The Ultimate Bluff Buster - How would you like to know if the guy sitting across the poker table from you really has a full house or just a pair of deuces? Or if your top executive is serious about quitting if he doesn't get a raise? Find out if your opponent is feeling good about his chances or just putting up a good front dead giveaway a poker player is bluffing /sure fire sign good hand, even pros give themselves away Is This Person Hiding Anything? - Don't get the wool pulled over your eyes! The next time you have a "sneaking" suspicion, that someone may be "up" to something, casually find out if anyone- kids, coworker, spouse, or friend--is keeping something from you Is He Interested or Are You Wasting Your Time? - If you want to find out if your date likes you or not; if your co-worker is really interested in helping you with your project; or if your prospect is interested in your product, learn how to know, every time. Whose Side is She Really On? - Is she out for you, or to get you? If you think that someone may be sabotaging your efforts, when she appears to be cooperating, find out whose side anyone is on, and fast. Emotional Profile - Learn the signs of emotional instability and potential for violence. From a blind date to the baby-sitter to a coworker, know what to look for, and what questions to ask, in order to protect you and your loved ones.

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction


William Zinsser - 1976
    It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet. Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you fundamental priciples as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more than a million copies sold, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valuable resource for writers and would-be writers.

Grammar to Enrich & Enhance Writing


Constance Weaver - 2008
    Born from the ideas and research in her much-loved Teaching Grammar in Context, and benefiting from the creativity of her colleague Jonathan Bush, this new resource goes even further to bring the best research, theory, and practices into the classroom. Grammar to Enrich and Enhance Writing is three helpful books in one. In the first part, Weaver outlines the latest theories, research, and principles that underlie high-quality grammar instruction for writing. She demonstrates that specific, effective grammar-teaching practices: address all of the 6 Traits of writing instructionemphasize depth, not breadthshould be positive, productive, and practical-not stodgy, correct, and limitingmust be incorporated throughout the writing process, not broken out in isolated units.In part two, Weaver links theory and practice. Her explicit, classroom-proven teaching ideas, strategies, and lessons address key subjects as diverse as helping students make better stylistic use of modifiers, incorporating grammar into revision, and mapping grammar instruction to the curriculum. Mostly in part three, she invites members of the field into a discussion of high-quality grammar instruction. Jeff Anderson (Mechanically Inclined)Rebecca Wheeler (Code-Switching), and other practicing teachers describe their teaching-how they model the vital role grammar plays in guiding students through the editing process, how they respond to student errors, how they help English Language Learners edit for conventional English, and how grammar supports code-switching among speakers of African American English. Like Weaver's, their ideas are ready for immediate classroom implementation. With all this, plus a brief primer on crucial grammatical concepts, Grammar to Enrich and Enhance Writing is what teachers have been waiting for: an up-to-date, ready-to-use, comprehensive resource for leading students to a better understanding of grammar as an aid to more purposeful, detailed, and sophisticated writing. To request this title as a Desk/Exam copy, click here.

Becoming a Translator: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Translation


Douglas Robinson - 1997
    The book helps students learn how to translate faster and more accurately, how to deal with potential problems, including dealing with stress and how the market works. This second edition has been revised throughout, and includes an exploration of new technologies used by translators and a 'Useful Contacts' section including the names, addresses and web addresses of translator organizations, training programmes, journals and translator agencies. Exercises, email exchanges and examples have also been updated throughout. Becoming a Translator is an invaluable guide for all aspiring and practising translators.

Japanese From Zero! 1: Proven Methods to Learn Japanese with integrated Workbook and Online Support


George Trombley - 2006
    The lessons and techniques used in this series have been taught successfully for over ten years in classrooms throughout the world.Using up-to-date and easy-to-grasp grammar, Japanese From Zero is the perfect course for current students of Japanese as well as absolute beginners.In Book 1 of the Japanese From Zero series, readers are taught new grammar concepts, over 800 new words and expressions, and also learn the hiragana writing system.Features of Book 1: * Integrated Workbook with Answer Key* Over 800 New Words and Expressions* Learn to Read and Write Hiragana* Easy-to-Understand Example Dialogues* Culture Points about Japan* Bilingual Glossaries with Kana and Romaji...and much more

Learn Hindi in 30 Days


K. Srinivasachari - 1970
    Here is the easiest way toLearn HindiKnow HindiUnderstand HindiRead HindiSpeak HindiWrite HindiAndTo Converse in HindiThrough English

English Grammar for Students of Spanish: The Study Guide for Those Learning Spanish


Emily Spinelli - 1994
    Once students have understood the terms and concepts in their own language, it is easier for them to understand their textbook. With simple explanations and numerous examples, this brief handbook compares English and Spanish grammar and points out the similarities and differences.