Icon News & Events
Hugh Dennis to read The Etymologicon for BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week from 19th December
Posted on 2011/12/05 in General, tagged as
Mark Forsyth’s The Etymologicon will be BBC Radio4’s Book of the Week in the week before Christmas. The five 15-minute excerpts of the book will be read by comedian Hugh Dennis, left, and will begin at 9.45am on Monday 19th December (and then repeated at 12.30am each day too), with the last piece on 23rd December. The Radio Times features the programme as number 1 in their selection of radio ‘Christmas crackers’ this year in the special bumper Ch… Read more »
‘This year’s must-have stocking filler – the angel on the top of the tree, the satsuma in the sock, the threepenny bit in the plum pudding, the essential addition to the library in the smallest room…’
Posted on 2011/12/03 in General, tagged as
‘… is Mark Forsyth’s The Etymologicon,’ says Ian Samson in the Guardian today, rounding up those ideal books to buy this festive season. ‘The Etymologicon is witty and well researched, and the chapters are short. Who wouldn’t want to read about the derivation of the word “gormless”? Or the relationship between the words “buffalo” and “buff”? All things pass, but amusement abides.’ Read the whole thing here and you can order your essential stock… Read more »
‘It was the nudist beach and the bamboo hut that we lived in next to the sea. It was the tolerance and often the kindness of the people who ran “Camping Antiparos” that I really fell in love with’
Posted on 2011/12/02 in General, tagged as
Kate Monro, author The First Time, revisits the scene of her first time in Greece, 20 years later, in this piece for The Huffington Post. And there’s more about her book here.
‘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
