The Lexicographer’s Dilemma offers the first narrative history of these endeavors, showing clearly that what we now regard as the only “correct” way to speak emerged out of specific historical and social conditions over the course of centuries.As literary historian Jack Lynch has discovered, every rule has a human history, and the characters peopling his narrative are as interesting for their obsession as for their erudition. The struggle between prescriptivists, who prescribe a correct approach, and descriptivists, who analyze how language works, is at the heart of Lynch’s story. From the sharp-tongued satirist Jonathan Swift, who called for a governmentsponsored academy to issue rulings on the language, and the polymath Samuel Johnson, who put dictionaries on a new footing, to John Horne Tooke, the crackpot linguist whose bizarre theories continue to baffle scholars; Joseph Priestley, whose political radicalism prompted riots; and the ever-crotchety Noah Webster, whose goal was to Americanize the English language—Lynch brings to life a varied cast as illuminating as it is entertaining.Grammatical “rules” or “laws” are not like the law of gravity, or laws against theft or murder—they’re more like rules of etiquette, made by fallible people and subject to change. Charting the evolution of English, Jack Lynch puts today’s debates—whether about Ebonics in the schools or split infinitives in the New York Times—in a rich historical context, and makes us appreciate anew the hard-won standards we now enjoy.

    Each habit is explored in detail. You'll learn about the triggers that prompt them and the ways in which they hurt your productivity. Most importantly, you'll receive actionable tips you can use immediately to curb the bad habits that are holding you back and create healthier, more productive habits in their place.A Blueprint For Better Time Management!The 30-Day Productivity Plan gives you the tools to make the most of your time. It gives you the steps along with a simple system for putting those steps into action.Here's a sample of what you'll learn in this fast-paced action guide:-A simple formula for creating to-do lists that actually work-How to slash the amount of time it takes you to complete any task-How to stop being a people-pleaser and catapult your productivity-5 tips for designing your workday so you can avoid working overtimeImagine how the extra time you'll have after putting these tips into practice will improve your life:-You'll experience less stress-You'll enjoy more time with your family-You'll be able to pursue personal hobbies-You'll have the freedom to be more spontaneousAnd that's just scratching the surface.The 30-Day Productivity Plan will show you how to create a rewarding lifestyle while still getting things done. You'll learn:-How to create a diet that improves, rather than hinders, your productivity-A 6-step system for breaking your procrastination habit-6 easy tips for curbing your social media addiction-The productivity-killing effect of television and how to deal with it-How to control your inner critic and regain confidence in yourselfAre you ready to reap the benefits of high productivity? Would you like to get things done more quickly so you'll have the time you need to pursue other passions? You need The 30-Day Productivity Plan. In this action guide, you'll discover:-6 ways to leverage your body's natural rhythms to get more work done-The one addiction nearly everyone suffers from (and how to crush it!)-4 actionable tips for taking advantage of the Pareto principle-5 steps to creating reachable goals that motivate you to be more productive-An 8-step formula for avoiding - or recovering from - burnoutBonus Material Included In The 30-Day Productivity PlanI've included an entire chapter devoted to helping you curb the behaviors that are destroying your time management efforts. You'll learn a simple, 10-part system for breaking these bad habits and replacing them with behavioral patterns that boost your productivity.Take Action Today!The choice is yours. You can keep doing what you're currently doing and experience the same frustrating results. Or take action to improve how you manage your time.Download your copy of The 30-Day Productivity Plan today and create a more rewarding lifestyle!

    At the end of 2013, novelist Linda Grant moved from a rambling maisonette over four floors to a two bedroom flat with a tiny corridor-shaped study. The trauma of getting rid of thousands of books raises the question of what purpose personal libraries serve in contemporary life and the seductive lure of the Kindle. Both a memoir of a lifetime of reading and an insight into how interior décor has banished the bookcase, her account of the emotional struggle of her relationship with books asks questions about the way we live today.

    Also featured are extensive annotations and commentaries on the date of composition, how Tolkien’s professional and early mythological writings influenced the story, the imaginary geography he created, and how he came to revise the book in the years after publication to accommodate events in The Lord of the Rings.

    It is an easy-to-use handbook of scientifically proven, field-tested methods to improve skills—your skills, your kids’ skills, your organization’s skills—in sports, music, art, math, and business. The product of five years of reporting from the world’s greatest talent hotbeds and interviews with successful master coaches, it distills the daunting complexity of skill development into 52 clear, concise directives. Whether you’re age 10 or 100, whether you’re on the sports field or the stage, in the classroom or the corner office, this is an essential guide for anyone who ever asked, “How do I get better?”“The Little Book of Talent should be given to every graduate at commencement, every new parent in a delivery room, every executive on the first day of work. It is a guidebook—beautiful in its simplicity and backed by hard science—for nurturing excellence.”—Charles Duhigg, bestselling author of The Power of Habit   “It’s so juvenile to throw around hyperbolic terms such as ‘life-changing,’ but there’s no other way to describe The Little Book of Talent. I was avidly trying new things within the first half hour of reading it and haven’t stopped since. Brilliant. And yes: life-changing.”—Tom Peters, co-author of In Search of Excellence

     Irritated, she tried to ignore the magnetic pull of the tall, powerfully built man, assuming he was a con artist. But the attraction was there and she couldn’t stay away. So despite the freakish Abbot fertility that had caused her family so many problems over the years, Rayne succumbed to one night of passion, sure that there would be no consequences. She was wrong! Kular bin Faris, Sheik of Glidar, was delighted with the blue eyed red-head, entranced by her saucy replies and amused when she mistook him for a common thief. He wanted more than just one night of passion with the saucy minx, but by the time he woke the following morning, the lovely Rayne was gone. He knew that she was the woman for him. But he had to find her in order to convince her of that!

    Whether your goal is to grow one of your side projects into a marketable business, to improve the revenues of your current brand, or to better the brand of the company you work for, The Marketing Blueprint is what you need. This step-by-step guide compiles all essential marketing strategies, such as: • How to market, from forming marketing strategies, to business development, to improving your selling skills • How to become a more efficient marketer, by understanding and using leverage effectively • How to market yourself and your brand's people, to ensure better business opportunities • How to create brands and products that make people talk and stay relevant for years To top it all off, this book has more than 30 lessons of practical content that you can use right away in your business. Longer hours and bigger textbooks aren't the answer to your success. By being the smartest marketer around, you can ensure you will grow your business' revenues. That’s exactly what The Marketing Blueprint is all about.

    The Black Book doesn't include any vocabulary lists, and doesn't advise its readers to rely on math formulas.Instead, The SAT Prep Black Book teaches readers to approach the test the same way that Barrett trains his students. Barrett sees the SAT as a standardized instrument with a specific objective, and reasons that the test must observe certain design guidelines that follow from that unique objective. So this book explains to students how different types of SAT questions are actually written, from the perspective of the College Board: for each question type, Barrett explains the "big secret" of that question type, the rules and patterns that all questions of that type will follow, and, most importantly for readers, exactly how to attack the question type based on the inherent weaknesses of its particular rules and patterns.The book includes over 250 example solutions that demonstrate Barrett's approach against real SAT questions written by the College Board. In order to follow along, students will want a copy of the College Board's book "The Official SAT Study Guide," the source of the questions whose solutions appear in the Black Book.The overall lesson of the SAT Prep Black Book is that the SAT tests very basic concepts in very strange ways, so students should learn the unique habits of the test rather than cramming definitions and formulas. At 330 pages, the book is thorough and detailed in its analysis of the SAT.

    Markets have crashed. Jobs have disappeared. Industries have been disrupted and are being remade before our eyes. Everything we aspired to for “security,” everything we thought was “safe,” no longer is: College. Employment. Retirement. Government. It’s all crumbling down. In every part of society, the middlemen are being pushed out of the picture. No longer is someone coming to hire you, to invest in your company, to sign you, to pick you. It’s on you to make the most important decision in your life: Choose Yourself.New tools and economic forces have emerged to make it possible for individuals to create art, make millions of dollars and change the world without “help.” More and more opportunities are rising out of the ashes of the broken system to generate real inward success (personal happiness and health) and outward success (fulfilling work and wealth).This book will teach you to do just that. With dozens of case studies, interviews and examples–including the author, investor and entrepreneur James Altucher’s own heartbreaking and inspiring story–Choose Yourself illuminates your personal path to building a bright, new world out of the wreckage of the old.

    Ask your parents. Ask someone you hardly know. THE BOOK OF QUESTIONS gives you permission to ask those things that are too bold, too embarrassing, or just too difficult to ask by yourself. You will find questions of integrity; of sex; of what you would do for money; even things too personal to talk about out loud.Whether you use it as a tool for self-discovery or as a provocative way to stimulate conversation, this book constantly challenges attitudes, orals, beliefs--and it challenges you.--back cover

    He is one of the symp-toms of our times—from the little man who shoves you out of the way on the street to the go-getter who shoves you out of a job in the office to the Fuehrer who shoves you out of the world. And all of us have stopped to wonder, at some time or another, what it is that makes these people tick. What makes them run?This is the question Schulberg has asked himself, and the answer is the first novel written with the indignation that only a young writer with talent and ideals could concentrate into a manuscript. It is the story of Sammy Glick, the man with a positive genius for being a heel, who runs through New York’s East Side, through newspaper ranks and finally through Hollywood, leaving in his wake the wrecked careers of his associates; for this is his tragedy and his chief characteristic—his congenital incapacity for friendship.An older and more experienced novelist might have tempered his story and, in so doing, destroyed one of its outstanding qualities. Compromise would mar the portrait of Sammy Glick. Schulberg has etched it in pure vitriol, and dissected his victim with a precision that is almost frightening.When a fragment of this book appeared as a short story in a national magazine, Schulberg was surprised at the number of letters he received from people convinced they knew Sammy Glick’s real name. But speculation as to his real identity would be utterly fruitless, for Sammy is a composite picture of a loud and spectacular minority bitterly resented by the many decent and sincere artists who are trying honestly to realize the measureless potentialities of motion pictures. To this group belongs Schulberg himself, who has not only worked as a screen writer since his graduation from Dartmouth College in 1936, but has spent his life, literally, in the heart of the motion-picture colony. In the course of finding out what makes Sammy run (an operation in which the reader is spared none of the grue-some details) Schulberg has poured out everything he has felt about that place. The result is a book which the publishers not only believe to be the most honest ever written about Hollywood, but a penetrating study of one kind of twentieth-century success that is peculiar to no single race of people or walk of life.

    She’s the fiercely independent woman who never planned to return to the town she left behind years ago. But when circumstances bring them back together, will they take a chance on each other and let love lead the way?MEREDITHSurprise was never really my home. It was more a safe place for me to run when I had no one but my Aunt Denise left in my life. I never expected to be living next to the hottest guy in town or that he would ever notice me. Years later, I’ve built a life of my own, until a desperate call from my aunt brings me back to the town I left behind. And right into his path. Ethan is strong, handsome and when he pulls me over for speeding, he sets my heart racing. But I’m only here for a short time. Can I walk away again when the time comes?ETHANI followed my father into a military life, but when my final tour ends, something calls me back to Surprise. As a Deputy, I can use my shifter abilities to help others. When I pull over a car driving too fast, I’m shocked to see that the woman of my dreams is back in town. Meri is even more beautiful than she was before, and my wolf demands that I get closer to her. But will I be able to let her go when her time here is up? Or will I lose my heart all over again?

    Author Jason Blume, a songwriter with the rare distinction of having had songs on the Country, Pop, and R&B charts simultaneously, has packed this book with such key aids as the three-step lyric writing technique used by the pros; lyric, melody, and demo checklists; and tools for self-evaluation–plus many other exercises that work. Blume’s warm, humorous style features motivational anecdotes and entertaining stories of how hit songs came to be written and recorded. Get Six Steps to Songwriting Success, and get on the charts!From the Trade Paperback edition.