I read this years ago and remembered liking it quite a bit. It was interesting this time, too, but I wish there had been more about the making of the I read this years ago and remembered liking it quite a bit. It was interesting this time, too, but I wish there had been more about the making of the dictionary than there was....more
Ella Minnow Pea (LMNOP) is a clever satire of absolute power and people's reaction to it. At the same time, it's delightful reading - Nollop (the islaElla Minnow Pea (LMNOP) is a clever satire of absolute power and people's reaction to it. At the same time, it's delightful reading - Nollop (the island nation where the story takes place) is highly literate and everyone writes letters. But when certain letters of the alphabet get proscribed, life gets harder for the islanders (and more interesting for the readers!)....more
This is the second book by Elizabeth Wayland Barber that I've read in as many months and I'm off to start a third. Her writing is so accessible to a nThis is the second book by Elizabeth Wayland Barber that I've read in as many months and I'm off to start a third. Her writing is so accessible to a non-expert that it reads like a real life detective story, yet is so thorough and well-argued that it clearly is a professional monograph. She is trying to understand how 4,000-yr-old blond Caucasian mummies (even the women were over 6 feet tall!) came to be buried in a salty Central Asian desert. Exploring that question takes her deeply into linguistic, geographical, climatological and historical evidence, but the clothing - some of it much like modern Scottish tartans - is key. There are lots of photos, drawings and maps that greatly aid in understanding. ...more
I always thought that myths were great stories coming from deep within the human psyche to show us what it is to be human. What an exciting revelationI always thought that myths were great stories coming from deep within the human psyche to show us what it is to be human. What an exciting revelation to read about the linguistic and cognitive factors that the authors claim shaped the passing on (and distortion) of historical events in preliterate societies -- and in urban legends today. These tales became myth. I was blown away by much of this: the story of Prometheus makes so much more sense now! The chapter "Of Sky and Time" gave me a sense of just how long humans have been, well, "human," and how much they understood.
This is academic reading, not literature, so be prepared -- it's a bit of work to read, but I thought it was well worth it. ...more
We all have hunches about what makes a book good, or how to identify one author's style from another, but Ben Blatt runs thousands of books of all sorWe all have hunches about what makes a book good, or how to identify one author's style from another, but Ben Blatt runs thousands of books of all sorts (from classics to fan fiction) through a computer program to see what the data actually show. He does a good job explaining how he chose the questions he asks and the books he analyzes, and why the results might matter - though he readily admits the data are just a starting point for understanding.
I found the first few chapters fascinating (use of -ly adverbs, gender issues, author "fingerprints"), but subsequent chapters were of less interest and I thought sometimes items were included just to make the book longer (size of author's name on cover). The writing/editing could also use some work. Many sentences were not clear and some proofreading would have helped with cut-and-paste type errors ("Should Brits worry that they are using losing their grasp...?"). Still, I enjoyed the book overall and would like to find something that goes into more depth on some of the things presented in the initial chapters....more
Food and language, two of my favorite things in one book. Jurafsky draws on computational linguistics as well as the "EATymology" of words and other lFood and language, two of my favorite things in one book. Jurafsky draws on computational linguistics as well as the "EATymology" of words and other linguistic skills to look into what language and food together can tell us about such things as optimism, class structure, health, marketing ploys, and our commonalities as humans. Some of the word histories are well known (ketchup, turkey), though more richly explained here than I've seen them before, but my favorite parts are the novel ideas he explores. His insight into the "grammar of cuisine" took the intriguing history traced in another book I like, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, a step further for a real "ah ha!" experience. I will also add that the book is rather strangely written in some ways -- a mixture of personal history and local color that may have spurred his own interest but felt odd in a book that is 40% footnotes. At one point he mentioned "Janet" and it took me aback until I remembered that he had noted, a chapter or two before, that his wife is named Janet. He also gives his own favorite recipe for salsa verde when looking into a cluster of salt-related words. By the end of the book I found this charming, but at first I was put off because I wasn't sure how seriously to take the book....more
Is sign language a real language, or is it just mimetic gestures? I learned from Talking Hands that even my question is wrong -- there isn't one sign Is sign language a real language, or is it just mimetic gestures? I learned from Talking Hands that even my question is wrong -- there isn't one sign language, but hundreds, and they are no more similar to each other than are different spoken languages. And they are indeed true languages, with all the identifiable characteristics of spoken languages. Margalit Fox, a writer trained in linguistics, accompanied a research team to an isolated Bedouin village that has a high rate of deafness to observe how the scholars studied the town's sign language. They were watching a newborn language, only in its third generation of native signers, to learn how languages develop. Full of fascinating detail (especially about the social history of signing) and clear explanations, the book should appeal to anyone interested in linguistics. ...more
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