Icon News & Events

‘A perfect Christmas gift for anyone who might be interested in where our words come from’

Posted on 2011/12/02 in General, tagged as

Mark Forsyth’s The Etymologicon is reviewed on the A Common Reader blog today. Tom, who runs the blog, says ‘Mark is one of those lucky bloggers who’s blog has now become a book, The Etymologicon, and I have to say, it makes for a very good read which I’ve been dipping into over the last week.’ You can read the full review here and more about the book here. Mark Forsyth will be a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends with Clive Anderson tomorrow morn… Read more »

Johnny Ball’s Ball of Confusion – the enhanced ebook, only £7.99 now from iTunes…

Posted on 2011/12/01 in General, tagged as

We’re extremely excited to announce the publication of a very special electronic edition of Johnny Ball’s brilliant quiz book, Ball of Confusion. It’s an enhanced edition, available exclusively from Apple via iTunes, complete with video clips in which Johnny explains various of the puzzles in the book. The clips were recorded in Apple’s Covent Garden store at an event there earlier in the year. It’s also ‘signed’ by Johnny at the start. And it’s… Read more »

‘Nessa Carey, a molecular biologist, explains all clearly, while sucking in the uninitiated with intriguing tales of queen bees, tortoiseshell cats, un-identical identical twins and lots more.’

Posted on 2011/11/30 in General, tagged as

A great short review of Nessa Carey’s The Epigenetics Revolution in the Australian here, which starts with the priceless line: ‘I LOVE epigenetics’! Read more here

Icon announce new books on Dickens from John Sutherland and Bosnia from Martin Bell

Posted on 2011/11/30 in General, tagged as

Icon announce today new additions to our schedule for early next year which we’re really excited about. The Dickens Dictionary by John Sutherland is a gloriously wide-ranging alphabetical companion to Dickens’ work, by the UK’s best-known critic of Victorian literature. It’s published at the start of February, a month packed full of celebrations of Dickens’ bicentenary. Commemorating an anniversary of a far darker kind in April is a new, fully re… Read more »

‘This book is an absolute gem.’

Posted on 2011/11/28 in General, tagged as

Paul Edmund Norman joins the chorus of approval for Mark Forsyth’s The Etymologicon with a glowing review on his blog, Books Monthly. ‘The way he finished one essay and leaves you wanting more, then begins the next essay with a reference from the last is superb,’ he writes. ‘The words he chooses to illustrate his essays are brilliant, and the whole thing is put together in a way that will have you proclaiming what you have just discovered to your… Read more »

Win a signed, and personalised, copy of The Etymologicon with Bookhugger

Posted on 2011/11/25 in General, tagged as

Bookhugger are running a very special competition today to win a copy of Mark Forsyth’s The Etymologicon which will not only be signed by the author but include a plate explaining the etymological origin of the winner’s name! Head over to Bookhugger to enter – and you’ll need to watch this video too:

Did you enjoy Nude Drinking at Noon? What about Crooked Graspings?

Posted on 2011/11/24 in General, tagged as

More book-title-tomfoolery today from Mark Forsyth on Bookhugger… Keep up with Mark and everything Etymologicon-related on Twitter – @inkyfool

‘In discussions of everything from jet engines to jet lag, Clegg both fascinates and informs. If straightforward science can dispel fear of flying, there will soon be fewer people shaking in their seats.’

Posted on 2011/11/24 in General, tagged as

Brian Clegg’s Inflight Science is reviewed today in American Science magazine Science News. ‘Besides providing loads of info about how airplanes work,’ writes reviewer Sid Perkins, ‘the book includes several experiments that passengers can conduct right on their tray tables —illustrating scientific principles for the keenly observant and offering blessed distraction for the chronically nervous. Readers can test Galileo’s theory of relativity (yes… Read more »

‘I heart The Etymologicon’

Posted on 2011/11/23 in General, tagged as

Gretchen Wheeler of Waterstones Coventry University has just sent us this lovely image of her shelf-talker expressing her love forMark Forsyth’s book… Have you read the book? Send us your review to info@iconbooks.co.uk and we’ll publish it here.

‘Beware: money is always a warning!’