Icon News & Events
Introducing Postmodernism – the App!
Posted on 2011/11/07 in General, tagged as
We’re extremely excited to announce the first-ever digital version of the most popular Introducing title ever – Postmodernism, by Richard Appignanesi and Chris Garratt with Ziauddin Sardar and Patrick Curry. When the book was first published in mid-nineties Postmodernism seemed to be at its height, lending a thrilling – if regularly perplexing – new vantage point to not just philosophy and art but to fin-de-siecle phenomena such as world music, ‘… Read more »
‘When you are sarcastic to someone, you are metaphorically and etymologically, ripping the flesh from their bodies. ‘
Posted on 2011/11/07 in General, tagged as
The Etymologicon author Mark Forsyth writes on the Foyles blog today about bibliophiles, bibliomania and bibliophagists … and what they all have to be with sarcasm. ‘A bibliophagist is a devourer of books,’ he writes. ‘It comes from Greek root phagein which meant eat.’ ‘If you put the Greek anthropos, or man, in front of phagous you get a man-eater. Othello wooed Desdemona by telling her all about: …of the Cannibals that each other eat, The A… Read more »
What’s the meaning of ‘kindle’?
Posted on 2011/11/04 in General, tagged as
Mark Forsyth writes today about the history behind the word ‘kindle’ for, where else, but Amazon’s Kindle blog. ‘Etymologically, ‘kindle’ is in one of my favourite groups of words: the forgotten frequentative’ he says. ‘It’s a subject that I wrote a whole chapter about in my book, The Etymologicon. It’s a group that contains bustle, waddle and that old favourite disgruntle. When you did something frequently in Old English the Old Englishmen would… Read more »
Read Johnny Ball’s Ball of Confusion here!
Posted on 2011/11/03 in General, tagged as
Well, a sample thereof anyway. Johnny Ball’s brilliant Ball of Confusion brings together puzzles from his slot of his daughter Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 show, and many more, designed to knit your brow into knots of empuzzlement for hours on end. Check it out for yourself here and share this widget however you would like:
The origins of London tube names
Posted on 2011/11/03 in General, tagged as
Brilliant London blog The Londonist have just posted a piece about the origins of some well-known London tube station names, courtesy of man-of-the-moment Mark Forsyth. One of them is below – can you guess which station Mark’s standing on front of ? Visit The Londonist for more…
The Etymologicon is Book of the Week at iTunes
Posted on 2011/11/03 in General, tagged as
Mark Forsyth’s The Etymologicon, published today, is one of iTunes’ Books of the Week. Buy the ebook from the iBookstore now for only £6.99 – click here to see more.
‘This is an brilliant book and very cleverly put together … The author has a great way of putting things across that made me gasp and wonder all the way through.’
Posted on 2011/11/02 in General, tagged as
Waterstones customer Nikki M has some very nice things to say about the Etymologicon on the Waterstones’ website – you can read what she said here. Another Waterstones customer describes it as ‘a fabulous book. It’s interesting, educational and really very funny’ and once bookseller Henry Coningsby, from the Watford branch, gets over the fact that ‘etymologicon’ isn’t the easiest word to spell, or say (but where would be the fun be if it was, eh,… Read more »
Read a sample of The Etymologicon via Book2Look
Posted on 2011/11/01 in General, tagged as
Icon have been working with a company called Book2Look who provide widgets like the one below to display and share excerpts of books. Using this below, you can read the first 20 or pages of Mark Forsyth’s The Etymologicon, and easily share and embed the widget on your own sites using the buttons at the top. So please read, enjoy and pass on!
‘Any book that contains the line, ‘Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it was a sausage-maker who disposed of the body’ is OK by me’
Posted on 2011/11/01 in General, tagged as
Icon’s Editorial Director Duncan Heath on The Etymologicon: Mark Forsyth’s brilliant and compelling new book, subtitled a ‘circular stroll through the hidden connections of the English language’ is published by Icon this Thursday. And circular it is! Stemming from Mark’s successful Inky Fool blog on the derivations of words and phrases, the book has a highly original linked narrative that finds a connection between each entry, eventually looping… Read more »
For the next two days only, Johnny Ball’s Ball of Confusion is half price at the iBookstore
Posted on 2011/10/27 in General, tagged as
Apple’s iBookstore is selling the ebook version of Ball of Confusion for only £3.99 for the next two days! Here’s the link to iTunes to buy yours – but act fast, the offer won’t last forever…
