The Etymologicon (eBook)

A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language

Mark Forsyth

'Witty and erudite … stuffed with the kind of arcane information that nobody strictly needs to know, but which is a pleasure to learn nonetheless.' Nick Duerden, Independent.

'Particularly good … Forsyth takes words and draws us into their, and our, murky history.' William Leith, Evening Standard.

The Etymologicon is an occasionally ribald, frequently witty and unerringly erudite guided tour of the secret labyrinth that lurks beneath the English language.

What is the actual connection between disgruntled and gruntled? What links church organs to organised crime, California to the Caliphate, or brackets to codpieces?

Mark Forsyth's riotous celebration of the idiosyncratic and sometimes absurd connections between words is a classic of its kind: a mine of fascinating information and a must-read for word-lovers everywhere.

'Highly recommended' Spectator.

Mark Forsyth is a writer, journalist and blogger. His book The Etymologicon was a Sunday Times Number One Bestseller and his TED Talk 'What's a snollygoster?' has had more than half a million views. He is also the author of The Horologicon and The Elements of Eloquence, and wrote a specially commissioned essay The Unknown Unknown for Independent Booksellers Week. He lives in London with his dictionaries, and blogs at blog.inkyfool.com.

A Practical Guide to Positive Psychology (eBook)

Achieve Lasting Happiness

Bridget Grenville-Cleave

The Dickens Dictionary (eBook)

An A-Z of Britain's Greatest Novelist

Jon Sutherland

For fans new and old, an enjoyable tour through the world of Dickens in the hands of a master critic. Charles Dickens, the 'Great Inimitable', created a riotous fictional world that still lives and breathes for thousands of readers today. But how much do we really know about the dazzling imagination that brought all this into being?
For the bicentenary of Dickens' birth, Victorian literature expert John Sutherland has created a gloriously wide-ranging alphabetical companion to Dickens' work, excavating the hidden links between his characters, themes, and preoccupations, and the minutiae of his endlessly inventive wordplay.
Covering America, Bastards, Childhood, Christmas, Empire, Fog, Larks, London, Madness, Murder, Orphans, Pubs, Punishment, Smells, Spontaneous Combustion and Zoo to name but a few – John Sutherland gives us a uniquely personal guide to the great man's work.
Excerpt: HANDS; Every Dickens novel has a master image. In Our Mutual Friend it is the river. In Bleak House it is the fog. In Little Dorrit, it is the prison. In Great Expectations it is the hand. We often know much more about the principals' hands in that novel than their faces. Who, when the name Magwitch is mentioned, does not think of those murderous 'large brown veinous hands'? Jaggers? One's nose twitches—scented soap (the lawyer, like Pontius Pilate, is forever washing his hands). Miss Havisham? Withered claws. So it goes on…

John Sutherland is the recently retired Lord Northcliffe Professor Emeritus at University College London: a title that one feels Dickens might have had some fun with. He has taught and published widely, particularly on Victorian fiction. His most recent relevant books are The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction (Longman, 2009) and Lives of the Novelists: A History of Fiction in 294 Lives (Profile, 2011). He and Stephen Fender published Love, Sex, Death and Words: Surprising Tales from a Year in Literature with Icon Books in 2010.

The Universe Inside You (eBook)

The Extreme Science of the Human Body from Quantum Theory to the Mysteries of the Brain

Brian Clegg

Built from the debris of exploding stars that floated through space for billions of years, home to a zoo of tiny aliens, and controlled by a brain with more possible connections than there are atoms in the universe, the human body is the most incredible thing in existence.

In the sequel to his bestselling Inflight Science, Brian Clegg explores mitochondria, in-cell powerhouses which are thought to have once been separate creatures; how your eyes are quantum traps, consuming photons of light from the night sky that have travelled for millions of years; your many senses, which include the ability to detect warps in space and time, and why meeting an attractive person can turn you into a gibbering idiot.

Read THE UNIVERSE INSIDE YOU and you'll never look at yourself the same way again.

Brian Clegg is a science journalist and writer. He runs www.popularscience.co.uk and his previous books include Inflight Science (Icon, 2011), Before the Big Bang (St Martin's Griffin, 2011), Armageddon Science (St Martin's Press, 2010), and A Brief History of Infinity (Robinson Publishing, 2003). www.brianclegg.net

A Practical Guide to Philosophy for Everyday Life (eBook)

See the Bigger Picture

Trevor Curnow

How can we apply philosophy to our everyday lives? Can philosophy affect the way we live? This book will show how philosophy can help to improve your thinking about everyday life. And how, by improving the quality of your thinking, you can improve the quality of your life. It will make you more aware of what you think and why, and how knowing this can help you can change the way you think about your life. Full of practical examples and straightforward advice, and written by an expert in the field, this guide can help you become calmer and happier, and make better decisions.

Trevor Curnow is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Cumbria. He has taught philosophy for most of the last thirty years in various places including the Open University, the University of Central Lancashire and the University of Khartoum.

A Practical Guide to Building Self-Esteem (eBook)

Accept, Value and Empower Yourself

David Bonham-Carter

This Practical Guide shows you how raising your self-esteem can make you feel better about yourself; let you stop you worrying about whether you are doing the right thing or whether you are good enough; help you engage in relationships constructively without putting yourself down and allow you to assert yourself effectively in all situations. Self-esteem has been shown to be a key indicator of success in life and in the work place. Filled with straightforward, practical advice, this guide shows you how to improve your self-esteem and stop worrying about what other people think.

David Bonham-Carter is a member of the Association for Coaching and has MA in Social Work from the University of Kent. He was a social worker and probation officer for many years before becoming a specialist life and business coach.

Rossini’s La Cenerentola (eBook)

A Short Guide to a Great Opera

Michael Steen

Rossini’s La Cenerentola (or Cinderella) is one of the most popular comic operas in the classical repertoire – the timeless fairy tale about the triumph of virtue over snobbery. Its first performance at Rome’s Teatro Valle in January 1817 – when the composer was not yet 25 – was the customary fiasco. More recently, audiences have laughed at Rossini’s wit, gasped at the momentum of his crescendos and marvelled at dazzling coloratura from great sopranos such as Cecilia Bartoli. The opera moves at the same frantic pace at which Rossini worked to compose it. Written by Michael Steen, author of the acclaimed The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, ‘Short Guides to Great Operas’ are concise, entertaining and easy to read books about opera. Each is an opera guide packed with useful information and informed opinion, helping to make you a truly knowledgeable opera-goer, and so maximising your enjoyment of a great musical experience. Other ‘Short Guides to Great Operas’ that you may enjoy include The Magic Flute, L’Elisir d’Amore and La Traviata.

Michael Steen OBE was born in Dublin, studied at the Royal College of Music and was organ scholar at Oriel College, Oxford. As well as pursuing a successful career in the City, he has been chairman of the Friends of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and of the Royal College of Music Society, and is Treasurer of The Open University. Michael saw his first opera in 1960 when he was 15, and was enchanted. Michael saw his first opera in 1960 when he was 15, and was enchanted. He now goes to the opera at least once a month, often much more, and has seen performances all around the world, for example in Milan, Bayreuth, St, Petersberg, Vienna, Dresden, Moscow, Sydney, New York, Wexford, Berlin, Budapest, Paris, Cape Town and many across the UK. His previous books include The Lives and Times of the Great Composers – described as u2018hugely informative and deliciously gossipyu2019 by the Spectator – and Enchantress of Nations. His Great Operas – bringing together guides to twenty-five of the worldu2019s finest musical experience – is published by Icon Books in November 2012.

Mozart's Così Fan Tutte (eBook)

A Short Guide to a Great Opera

Michael Steen

Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (eBook)

A Short Guide to a Great Opera

Michael Steen

Shakespeare on Toast (eBook)

Getting a Taste for the Bard

Ben Crystal

Who's afraid of William Shakespeare? Just about everyone. He wrote too much and what he did write is inaccessible and elitist. Right? Wrong. "Shakespeare on Toast" knocks the stuffing from the staid old myth of Shakespeare, revealing the man and his plays for what they really are: modern, thrilling and uplifting drama. Actor and author Ben Crystal brings the bright words and colourful characters of the world's greatest hack writer brilliantly to life, handing over the key to Shakespeare's plays, unlocking the so called difficult bits and, astonishingly, finding Shakespeare's own voice amid the poetry. Told in five fascinating Acts, "Shakespeare on Toast" sweeps the cobwebs from the Bard – from his language, his life, his time – revealing both the man and his work to be relevant, accessible and full of beans.

Ben Crystal is an actor and writer. He has worked in TV, film and theatre, including the reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe, London, and is a narrator for RNIB Talking Books, Channel 4 and the BBC. He co-wrote Shakespeare's Words (Penguin 2002) and The Shakespeare Miscellany (Penguin 2005) with David Crystal, and regularly gives talks and workshops on Shakespeare.