Every language changes, as I occasionally have to remind my non-linguist friends when they complain about this or that. Some languages change more than others — English, for example, has changed much more quickly and more dramatically than, say, Icelandic… Read More ›
No. “Script hacking” does not refer to writing programs in JavaScript — or even AppleScript. In this context it refers to exploring and playing with a non-Roman alphabet. At this point, Teach Yourself Library has published five books in the Script… Read More ›
Occasionally the review is more informative and entertaining than the book itself. Consider a review of The 25 Rules of Grammar by Joseph Piercy. In case you’re confused, it’s the book that’s by Joseph Piercy; the review is by Joe… Read More ›
A mystery focused on Chinese-owned grocery stores in the Mississippi Delta? Who knew! And I don’t mean some investment scheme by contemporary mainland Chinese; I mean Chinese families that have lived in Mississippi for a century now, i.e. American-born Chinese,… Read More ›
“What does your dad do?” people used to ask me when I was a kid. Always my dad, not my mom, even though she too was a professional. Things have changed today (I think). This article is about my dad,… Read More ›
If you like character-driven psychological thrillers, Peter Swanson’s Before She Knew Him may be the book for you. If you like mysteries but not thrillers, this might not be for you. I’m not going to summarize the plot. In fact, it’s… Read More ›
All published reviewers of Wordslut are women — at least as far as I can tell. But men should read it too. Aside from gender issues, you may be wondering whether this is a technical linguistics book or a popularization. Its… Read More ›
Mixed feelings about this non-fiction book. Maybe I should talk to someone about it. On the one hand, it’s filled with fascinating stories and views — things that make the reader close the book in order to stop and think… Read More ›
The best book of the year! Yes, I know that the year is only half over, but I’m still going to nominate Mary Norris’s Greek to Me as the best book of the year. Equal parts travelogue, memoir, mythology, and… Read More ›
What? Ian McEwan writes science fiction? News to me, but I had to give this book a chance. It’s Ian McEwan, after all. Machines Like Me falls into the alternative-history subgenre, in which the author postulates that one or more… Read More ›
What did I know about Virginia Woolf? Not much. I knew that she wrote about needing “a room of her own,” and that she had written something about a lighthouse, and I had long ago seen Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid… Read More ›
As Tom Lehrer famously said, “the reason most reviews on Amazon are so atrocious is that they were written by the people.” Actually, that’s not quite what he said. He actually said “the reason most folk songs are so atrocious is… Read More ›
Read and enjoy this book! Don’t argue: just do it. You’ll learn a lot and will have fun along the way. As the subtitle to Babel — Around the World in Twenty Languages — suggests, Dutch linguist Gaston Dorren takes us… Read More ›
We all know that justice is blind. “And deaf and dumb,” many a commentator has added. But what is justice, and how do we ensure that it is done? Please don’t get your knowledge of our justice system from television! Read Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s… Read More ›
What? A popular book about computers was published in 1974? “How is that even possible????” you ask. Computer Lib, by Ted Nelson, was indeed published in 1974, way before the World Wide Web, and it is undeniably and explicitly a popular… Read More ›
The new biopic, Tolkien, was clearly written for me. But you’ll enjoy it too. What, you may wonder, do I mean by claiming that it was written for me? Of course that is not literally true: the film-makers don’t know… Read More ›
As you know, the President of the United States takes an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” And of course our current president does that faithfully — right? — but not everyone is familiar with… Read More ›
“No masks, wizard staffs, scepters, axes, bow and arrows, or swords are permitted.” Yesterday was the first time I’ve ever been to a museum show with such a rule! As I had promised in this space back on June 17 of last… Read More ›
You surely know about the Silk Road, even if (like me) you went to school before courses like World History existed. But do you know about the Noodle Road? If not, you should read Jen Lin-Liu’s excellent memoir, On the Noodle… Read More ›
You know how college recommendation forms often ask “What three words first come to mind about this applicant?” In the case of Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Codebreakers of World War II, the three words would be fascinating, absorbing,… Read More ›
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