Best Rhetoric
Colorfully illustrated with photographs, portraits, and relevant artworks, this handsome hardcover is a visual treat too, making Letters of Note an utterly distinctive gift, and an instant classic. "While some might argue that the art of correspondence died with the advent of the internet, it was Letters of Note-a popular website sharing correspondence across history and spheres-that paved the way for the exceptional hardcover of the same name. The book's introduction aptly describes itself as "a museum of letters" that are as addictive as they are enlightening; featuring letters from Ernest Hemingway, Fidel Castro, Nick Cave, Elvis and more than a few world leaders. London-based author Shaun Usher compiled the collection of over 125 letters over the course of four years and the subjects span both private and public theatrics. In Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience (brought to you by the creator of the blog by the same name) you'll read letters spanning across centuries, from influential political leaders, authors, actors, murderers, and more. "This new book beautifully highlights fascinating letters ...The hardcover demands prime space on the coffee table." "Someone should write a love letter to a new book called Letters of Note . It's a splendid collection of all kinds of correspondence through the ages: Elvis Presley fans writing to the president, children making suggestions to famous cartoonists, a scientist's poignant love letter to his late wife."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"There could have been a thousand letters here and I still would not have tired of reading. In the meantime, I will peruse his website, Letters of Note, to see if I can find more wonderful letters from personalities famous and obscure."
"Letters of Note by Shaun Usher. NOVEMBER 7, 2017 ~ LEAVE A COMMENT ~ EDIT. Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider AudienceLetters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience by Shaun Usher. My rating: 5 of 5 stars. It was from “A Way with Words” a public radio show about the English language, including the origins of words, the usages, and good books that I came to know this lovely book. Of all the letters in the book, the following three letters resonate in my mind: (1) E. B. White’s letter to his gentleman acquaintance regarding the importance of having hope for humanity; (2) Anaïs Nin’s rebuking letter to a faceless collector of her co-authored “Erotica” for his demand of more prevalent racy contents; and (3) a nameless German’s woman’s letter to her husband asking him to take her back home from a dreadful mental hospital she was in."
"True to its title, this master piece contained missives that communicated a myriad of emotions, raised pertinent questions and advised the ones in need. The typography lends a rich grandeur which these letters of note truly deserve and needless to say, it evoke the emotions that come with holding a hard cover. Upon reading this work, one cannot help but think even though we as humanity have progressed in leaps and bounds in terms of technology and life style, have lost out a lot in the art of truly communicating and asking questions that makes us think long, hard, deep and all other attributes alike."
"This is a wonderful book that I will re-read many times."
*NEW YORK TIMES and WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER * Financial Times Best Business Books of 2016. *Inc.com’s Best Sales and Marketing Book of 2016 The author of the legendary bestseller Influence , social psychologist Robert Cialdini shines a light on effective persuasion and reveals that the secret doesn’t lie in the message itself, but in the key moment before that message is delivered. Using the same combination of rigorous scientific research and accessibility that made his Influence an iconic bestseller, Robert Cialdini explains how to capitalize on the essential window of time before you deliver an important message. "Digging down into how people make decisions at a primitive level is the specialty of author Robert Cialdini, a guru to salesmen and marketers since the publication of his 1984 book Influence . "— Richard H. Thaler , Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, co-author of Nudge , and author of Misbehaving. "— Chip Heath , Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and co-author of Switch and Made to Stick. "[ Pre-Suasion ] is sure to be an important contribution to the fields of social psychology and behavioral economics...detailed, readable, and fascinating, this book may cause the reader to wonder whether unbiased decisions are possible." “Exhaustively reviews the research not on how to influence others but on how to make people ready to be influenced….chapter after chapter piles on the experimental evidence from the field and the lab….Scholars, teachers and researchers will find the endnotes invaluable, because here, with his usual clarity and charm, Mr. Cialdini addresses academic concerns—such as the debate about the persistence and strength of change that can be produced in a brief lab study or field intervention—and explains many studies in detail, with more anecdotes to illustrate them….the overall message of this book is compelling.” —The Wall Street Journal.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Robert Cialdini, author of Pre-Suasion – a Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade shares his insights and finding about the importance of framing the discussion before it actually begins. “The basic idea of Pre-Suasion is that, by guiding preliminary attention strategically, it’s possible for a communicator to move recipients into agreement with a message before they experience it.” That is a very strong statement. Mr. Cialdini says that in the first book, he simply articulated the tactics advanced marketers were using to sell goods and services to the public. But when a Pre-Suasion question, “Are you adventurous?” was asked prior to launching into the discussion about the new soft drink, the results were astounding. Dr. Cialdini a master teacher, weaves the ideas together to form a clear and compelling case for understanding and employing Pre-Suasion techniques in all our persuasion attempts."
"Cialdini focuses the preparation for what he characterizes as “privileged moments.” That is, “identifiable points in time when an individual is particularly receptive to a communicator’s message.”. With all due respect to mastering the skills when acting on the six principles that Cialdini discusses in Influence, it is nonetheless imperative to apply then when they will be most effective: during a “privileged moment,” when channeled attention can lead to pre-suasion. These are among the dozens of passages of greatest interest and value to me, also listed to suggest the scope of Cialdini’s coverage: o Pre-suasion (Pages 3-18). o Privileged moments (14-15 and 19-30). o Magnetizers (15-16 and 89-92). o Attention (31-50). o Causality (51-66). o Attractions (67-81). o Violence (70-71 and 74-75). o Lack of closure (86-89). o Associations (99-115). o Geographies of influence (116-131). o Work environments (118-119). o Stereotypes of women (129-131). o Correction against influence (141-145). o Authority (152-153). o Reciprocation (153-157). o Liking (158-160). o Acknowledging weaknesses (165-167 and 180-181). o Warren Buffett (178-191). o Holocaust (182-191). o Strong commitments (224-227). o Geographies and post-suasion (224-233). In the final chapter, Cialdini suggests that — when members of an audience favor the given action or idea proposed, when they have become temporarily convinced — there’s a very important question to be confronted: “When rival communicators or even every day events divert their attention to some other concept, what can be done to prevent the favorability from evaporating?” As the Brothers Heath (Chip and Dan) would phrase it, “How to prepare and then deliver a message that will stick?”. Cialdini’s response to the question is to provide follow-up reminders or “cues.” He cites several examples of how this has been done, how commitments have been obtained, usually in the form of related behavior."
Here are cogent explanations of the straw man fallacy, the slippery slope argument, the ad hominem attack, and other common attempts at reasoning that actually fall short—plus a beautifully drawn menagerie of animals who (adorably) commit every logical faux pas . I can’t think of a better way to be taught or reintroduced to these fundamental notions of logical discourse. A delightful little book.”. — Aaron Koblin , creative director, Google’s Data Arts team. A flawless compendium of flaws.”. — Alice Roberts, PhD, anatomist, writer, and presenter of The Incredible Human Journey. “This little book takes a potentially ponderous subject (logical fallacies) and makes it wonderfully entertaining.”. — Omaha World-Herald. Almossawi and his McSweeney’s-ready artist Giraldo accessibly tackle such classic subjects as circular reasoning, false dilemma, straw man, appeal to ignorance, and genetic fallacy . an attractive, substantive read.”. — John Wenzel , Denver Post blog. “Now more than ever, you need this illustrated guide to bad arguments, faulty logic, and silly rhetoric.”. — Dan Solomon , Fast Company magazine online.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a useful little book for logical fallacies, covers them well with fairly charming artwork to accompany and illustrate the concepts."
"Love this book."
"It made for some hilarious commentary in the house when one of the kids would chime in and tell us our logic was flawed and start a debate."
"This book is high quality and will make you a better, more rational, debater guaranteed."
"Coming from someone who doesn't much understand this stuff nor is particularly interested, this little book was honestly pretty cool!"
"Got it as a gag gift for a keyboard warrior friend...ended up being taken over by my 7 year old!"
"Excellent basic primer on Logical Fallacies."
"This was a gift to an English major...and was very well received."
Best Pure Mathematics
However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. Besides being a profound and entertaining meditation on human thought and creativity, this book looks at the surprising points of contact between the music of Bach, the artwork of Escher, and the mathematics of Gödel. Hofstadter's great achievement in Gödel, Escher, Bach was making abstruse mathematical topics (like undecidability, recursion, and 'strange loops') accessible and remarkably entertaining. Escher, Kurt Gödel: biographical information and work, artificial intelligence (AI) history and theories, strange loops and tangled hierarchies, formal and informal systems, number theory, form in mathematics, figure and ground, consistency, completeness, Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry, recursive structures, theories of meaning, propositional calculus, typographical number theory, Zen and mathematics, levels of description and computers; theory of mind: neurons, minds and thoughts; undecidability; self-reference and self-representation; Turing test for machine intelligence.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This was a very influential book for me in high school and college, and I had the privilege of being able to introduce my son to it."
"For those of you who want to know about how things are this is a must read."
"So far a fantastic book."
"Book in great shape."
"Condition of book was good, not great, slightly worse than described but totally acceptable."
"arrived safe and sound."
"A full mental meal, intellectually challenging."
"I liked Hofstadter’s search for the seat of consciousness, in humans, ant colonies, and (as he attempts to claim) self-referential formal systems. The discussion of this application to computer science and artificial intelligence was tremendously interesting, though a bit outdated. Apparently, Hofstadter thinks he needs to take his reader by the hand, start them off with some simpler concepts to build a foundation of knowledge, drag them step-by-step through his reasoning and thought process, entertain every conceivable tangent, and then incessantly repeat his core beliefs in slightly different ways. This may not be a problem to other readers, but unfortunately, I am the kind of person who cannot stop reading a book once I have started, no matter how painful the process is. Even though their names comprise two thirds of the title, GEB only references Bach and Escher when their work is useful to illustrate a more abstract concept of formal systems. He’ll present some obscure puzzle or formula and tell the reader to figure it out on their own, oh and by the way the answer is really obvious. This pedagogical style may be useful to some readers but personally, I don’t need to understand number theory on a usable level to be able to discuss it and think about it on the meta-levels. He uses this approach with genetics as well, which I am personally more versed in, trying to explain it on a simple level he calls “Typogenetics” but the effect was mainly finding myself bewildered on a topic with which I am familiar. At first, I thought these dialogues would break up the dense content of this book nicely, but after a few of them I found them redundant, tiring, and even more arrogant than the chapters, if possible. He breaks numerous expensive record players owned by the Crab just to prove a point and is constantly patronizing and antagonizing his “friend” Achilles. I’m just not sure that those few sections justify the commitment necessary to get into Hofstadter’s tangled, gabbing mind and buy into his unreciprocated bromance with Gödel. Finally, here’s some practical advice for someone considering buying this book or someone who already owns it and is debating reading it or throwing it in the trash: Read the dialogue prior to Chapter XVIII (which was only “adapted” by Hofstadter) and the final three chapters of the book, excluding the remaining dialogues, and you should get a pretty good ides of GEB’s core, without an excessive amount of filler."
Best Speech Communications
Verbal Judo is the martial art of the mind and mouth that can show you how to be better prepared in every verbal encounter. Verbal Judo is the classic guide to the martial art of the mind and mouth that can help you defuse confrontations and generate cooperation, whether you're talking to a boss, a spouse, or even a teenager. Verbal Judo shows you how to listen and speak more effectively, engage others through empathy (the most powerful word in the English language), avoid the most common conversational disasters, and use proven strategies to successfully express your point of view—and take the lead in most disputes.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Has some good advice, some of the most useful stuff are related to samurai mindset."
"Useful for personal or professional use."
"Helps any one communicate better."
"Whether you're dealing with difficult people such as employees, employer or even friends and family this book will shed light on the situation."
"Very interesting book good information."
"I have applied the information in my life and found the results to be very beneficial."
"Throw off the cloak of political correctness - put on the cape of forthrightness."
Best Comparative Literature
A brilliant book by Nobel Prize winner Eric R. Kandel, The Age of Insight takes us to Vienna 1900, where leaders in science, medicine, and art began a revolution that changed forever how we think about the human mind—our conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions—and how mind and brain relate to art. Kandel tells the story of how these pioneers—Freud, Schnitzler, Klimt, Kokoschka, and Schiele—inspired by the Vienna School of Medicine, in turn influenced the founders of the Vienna School of Art History to ask pivotal questions such as What does the viewer bring to a work of art? Kandel, one of the leading scientific thinkers of our time, places these five innovators in the context of today’s cutting-edge science and gives us a new understanding of the modernist art of Klimt, Kokoschka, and Schiele, as well as the school of thought of Freud and Schnitzler. Advance praise for The Age of Insight “Eric Kandel has succeeded in a brilliant synthesis that would have delighted and fascinated Freud: Using Viennese culture of the twentieth century as a lens, he examines the intersections of psychology, neuroscience, and art. No one else could have written this book—all its readers will be amply rewarded.” —Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education “Eric Kandel’s training as a psychiatrist and his vast knowledge of how the brain works enrich this thoroughly original exploration of the relationship between the birth of psychoanalysis, Austrian Expressionism, and Modernism in Vienna.” —Margaret Livingstone, Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School “This is the book that Charles Darwin would have produced, had he chosen to write about art and aesthetics. ‘I don’t render the visible,’ said Paul Klee, ‘I make visible.’ He echoed Edna St. Vincent Millay’s ‘Euclid alone looked on beauty bare.’ Eric Kandel is of that company.” —Frederic Morton “Nobel laureate Eric Kandel’s path-setting exploration of the connections between neuroscience and the painters Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka establishes a new frontier in the study of this all-important historical period. The shift toward a biological conception of self, which began in Vienna over a hundred years ago, has since decisively shaped our understanding of human nature.” — Jane Kallir, director, Galerie St. Etienne “With infectuous enthusiasm and limitless reverence for his multiple subjects, Kandel deftly steers the reader through a vast and inviting territory of science, the creative process, the mind, emotion, eroticism, empathy, feminism, and the unconscious.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In this richLY rewarding book, Nobel laureate Eric Kandel (2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine) attempts to draw together two widely disparate disciplines, the visual arts and brain science. Using the art world and science world of turn of the century Vienna, and focusing on the three extraordinary artists who among them forged Austrian Expressionism -Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980), and Egon Schiele (1890-1918) - asks three questions: *Does art have universal functions and features? While they add little new to our understanding of their works, Kandel's comments on why they worked are sensible and, more important yet, given the eventual aim of the book (the book's arc) they provide a bridge to the later discussion of how in fact the brain processes visual information and, briefly, a discussion of "the brain as a creativity machine." After a relatively short (40 pp) discussion of the cognitive psychology of perception, it concentrates on how the brain receives, stores and organizes information, and the implications of this for the visual arts. Discussing the dominant role of line in art, Kandel observes: "Artists have always realized that objects are defined by their shapes, which in turn derive from their edges. There are numerous color illustrations, works of art and diagrams of the brain, and black and white photographs and schematic drawings of the nervous system, etc."
"Author has masterful knowledge of neurology, and deep insight into Freud and Klimt, but I felt that the master plan of the book never quite came together."
"I read this book on loan from a friend, and decided I needed to own my own copy."
"It appears that the connection was made in private homes in Vienna near the turn of the last century, when scientists, physicians and artists who were most prominent during those years and at that place liked to get together, informally and talk about what interested them most. So, they began to change the way they painted, trying ever and ever to indicate the way humans act and think."
""The Age of Insight" gave me enormous insight into Vienna before World War I, the wonderful confluence of artists, psychologists, scientists, writers, and musicians who knew and influenced one another."
"It was very informative and well connected between the multiple disciplines of art, psychology, biology, chemistry, and science in general."
"I cannot really say where Dr. Kandel's wide-spanning mind might not seek to go."
"I bought Amazon Prime so I could get this shipped in time for Christmas."
Best Semantics
The classic book on the development of human language by the world’s leading expert on language and the mind. In this classic, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"(“a sad and urgent note.”). • A1 Galaburda (“Al Galaburda” [letter L, not number 1]). • and would not into nothing (“and would rot into nothing”). • something in he world (“something in the world”). • analyze the verb to broadcasts (“analyze the verb to broadcast as”). • No one would say give In break (“No one would say give I a break” [with the words after "say" in italics]). • person off gender (“person of gender”). • trout is a kind offish and (“trout is a kind of fish and”). • about twelves times as large (“about twelve times as large”). In a book with many playful and unusual examples of language, one can’t tell, since the e-book can’t be trusted, whether expressions like “isa” or “American Slurvian” are what Pinker intended, or simply more examples of poor editing. Given Amazon’s ability to reach into my Kindle and swap files, I am hoping to find a corrected version of Pinker’s book there soon."
"Lots of thought went into it."
"And these are errors that routinely distract from the content of the book, as the errors will sometime spell a different word altogether, giving a sentence a completely different meaning that you will only realize is nonsensical after reading an entire paragraph."
"After 40 years as an interpreter, translator, and cryptographer I thought I understood language."
"Arrived pretty quickly with that fresh book smell for a pretty low price."
"Fascinating."
"- universal characteristics of all human cultures and all human grammars - animals who have been trained to "talk". Pinker may or may not be 100% right, but his thinking is clear-headed and his view of humanity is refreshing, in that it is both broad enough to cover every speaking (human) culture, and specific enough to rely on individually observed and experimental evidence in describing the ways we learn."
"This book was very interesting, changed the way I think about language, and was used during my college courses."
Best Speech
We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Readers will be reminded of the energizing books of writer Natalie Goldberg and will be seduced by Lamott's witty take on the reality of a writer's life, which has little to do with literary parties and a lot to do with jealousy, writer's block and going for broke with each paragraph.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Just take it bird by bird.”. The book is peppered with such sage advice while Lamott remains the quintessential social commenter and odd man out, full of more than a few stories of her life gone wrong. Lamott shares some of her writing techniques such as sitting at her desk and staring at a small one-inch empty picture frame when she’s out of ideas. To be a writer, she tells her students, you have to sit your butt in a chair and not get up until you’ve written something no matter how long it takes or how terrible it is, and then you have to do that again the next day and the one after that. In Lamott’s world, writing is therapy and since she’s taken some of the heaviest stuff of her life and exposed it, often with hilarity, to the sun and wind and elements where it can be alchemized, she’s become her own therapist. Once you’ve mined your childhood for all the despondency and suffering you can recall along with all the nasty characters that have wreaked havoc upon you, stick them between fictional pages for everyone to see, while being careful to obscure them so ingeniously through changes of place or time or hair color that no one will recognize themselves."
"I am swept away by the cozy sincerity of the author, her voice true and experienced, a James Earle Jones reassurance in a petite package. When I was a child growing up in Massachusetts, I sat with my grandfather in his screen porch while he ate peanuts and listened to the Red Sox. I remember the one where Annie had to rework her second novel, she describes the tribulations of rejection from her editor, each story scene in page piles, laid out on a huge open floor in front of her, shuffling and mending, rewriting and discarding. A dash of Eudora Welty's On Writing, more eloquently written and equally helpful as Jill Dearman's Bang The Keys, Lamott's Bird By Bird is a safe haven to share--and by book's end, to shed--your innermost writing demons."
"This is my second reading and I will read it again."
"I have laughed out loud and then proceeded to attempt to stifle my uncontrollable and I might say slightly embarrassing laughter while sitting in a 1 by 1 chair high in the atmosphere with my legs curled up in a snarl, trying not to get kicked off the plane for loosing my mind and being considered a danger to others. Her subtle humorous sarcasm is icing on the cake in this serious book about writing."
"She can turn a phrase and paint a picture which simply but profoundly expresses feeling and reality."
Best Spelling
MATH GAMES & PUZZLES Code Breaker After solving problems with addition and subtraction, multiplication, fractions, temperature, time, or money, students use the answers to solve a fun riddle. MATH IN ACTION Going Green Estimating the number of discarded plastic bottles or the fraction of trash that can be recycled in different types of bins are a few practical ways students use math to learn how to improve the environment. Sylvan Learning is the premier provider of tutoring services for grades pre-K to 12 in North America.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My 7 year old loves math, so we got him this book to work on over the summer. The lessons in the first two books seem to go with each other and the third is more like a standalone book."
"Granddaughter loves the purchase made, thanks :-)."
"Very good book."
"for my granddaughter who loves math."
"Although we haven't finished it I like the way it transitions slowly from easy to more challenging material."
"Best book we have found for summer review."
"excellent book to support math for 3rd grader."
Best Alphabet Reference
At first a brand-new toy, now a threadbare and discarded nursery relic, the velveteen rabbit is saved from peril by a magic fairy who whisks him away to the idyllic world of Rabbitland. This special edition, complete with the original story and artwork as they appeared in 1922, remains a timeless classic in children's literature with over 1.5 million copies in print.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Very good book to read to your children."
"Such a beautiful copy, the company stickers came off with no residue on the wonderful cover."
"The rabbit of the story in question, despite his drawbacks and the taunts issued him by the other woodland creatures has high importance to someone."
"I listened to the Audio supplied on one of the Amazon pages for the book."
"Even though I did not have this book as child, I had heard of it and wanted to know the story."
"I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a child, or knows a child, or who was a child, and that pretty much includes everyone."
"They've taken the lovely color illustrations and made them black and white, then they have reduced them to about half size."
"I love the story, but I was not expecting the book to have glossy yellow pages."
Best Etymology
A revised and updated new edition of the bestselling workbook and grammar guide The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation is a concise, entertaining workbook and guide to English grammar, punctuation, and usage. From the very basics—parts of speech and subject-verb agreement—to more advanced topics like the subjunctive mood, The Blue Book covers it all. You’ll also learn to differentiate between the most commonly confused words like infer and imply, its and it's, affect and effect ...and hundreds more. Filled with clear examples and self-assessment quizzes, the book allows you to test your knowledge and practice what you learn.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In order to receive real quizzes and content, the authors of this book demand that you pay a substantial fee ($30.00 for a limited number of logins - one year or $129.00 unlimited logins - one year) in order to access their subscription area of the website that goes along with this book. You are able to go to GrammarBook.com and view this book in its entirety on the website and even take the menial quizzes online if you choose. This might be beneficial if you do not want to purchase the entire subscription package but want more practice in certain areas that need more work. The authors often keep you up to date with things such as the differences in the acceptable use of the word "none" in the SAT vs. the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage. The note section will have current information in relation to the English language as well as other things that may enhance the lesson itself. There is also an answer key provided at the back of the book, but it is not user friendly nor page numbered. You may purchase a subscription for more workable content and quizzes (which are desperately lacking in the book) if you choose, but it is fairly pricey."
"You need a grammar book that will allow you to reference something quickly, such as using the correct form of ‘effective’ or how you should avoid using the word ‘literally’ when what you really mean is ‘virtually’. If that’s what you’re after, then this is the book for you."
"Good simple reference book."
"Very useful and concise."
"Beginning with the parts of speech, with an idea that stands behind the rules."
"This book will be a great help."
"short and to the point."
Best Grammar Reference
Use the fourth edition of "the little book" to make a big impact with writing. "No book in shorter space, with fewer words, will help any writer more than this persistent little volume." "The book remains a nonpareil: direct, correct, and delightful." "It's hard to imagine an engineer or a manager who doesn't need to express himself in English prose as part of his job. It's also hard to imagine a writer who will not be improved by a liberal application of The Elements of Style ."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"edition (the one with the blue cover that is expanded) and I own the 3rd edition (which is not expanded). I've always struggled with being concise in my writing, and this book is THE book to help you maximize your writing."
"Classic book, I don't know one better."
"I bought this for a family member who is writing a book."
"It is by-far the best book book for conveying a message with concision and clarity."
"If you are a writer and need some quick referencing for your style and answered questions about how to use elements of structure in the literary world, this book is perfect."
"William Strunk's original guide, before the modern updates by E. B."
"A beginner or novice needs another book on writing that includes those aspects of the written english language."
"Anyone who even thinks about wanting to write should have this book on the nighttable, or within easy reach of brief periodic readings. The underlying point, like all good English books, is that there really is no new way to say, "it is," although overuse of "be" is a detriment to vivid writing."
Best Translation Reference
At the core of Complete Spanish is the Living Language Method™, based on linguistic science, proven techniques, and over 65 years of experience. • 3 Books: 46 lessons, additional review exercises, culture notes, an extensive glossary, and a grammar summary—plus a bonus notebook. • 9 Audio CDs: Vocabulary, dialogues, audio exercises, and more—listen while using the books or use for review on the go. • Free Online Learning: Flashcards, games, and interactive quizzes for each lesson at www.livinglanguage.com/languagelab. Living Language has been a proven and effective language learning instruction for over 65 years.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"To get 9 CDs and 3+ books for $28 is just an unbelievable bargain especially compared to big-name systems which, ironically, consistently get poor reviews and cost much, much more. The main advantage of the Duolingo course is that it is interactive -- you have to type in answers and if you get too many wrong, you have to repeat the lesson. Another thing is that listening to spoken Spanish and reading it at the same doubles your learning capacity as aural and visual input are stored in different parts of the brain and subsequently reinforce each other."
"In contrast to my high school German, I was clearly at my own pace with this study, and I proceeded at one lesson each week, regardless of how easy some seemed (with the exception of numbers, which went more quickly). That being said, if you are not keen on the subjunctive mood, indirect object pronouns and similar grammatical elements as such, the books provide brief descriptions of each as they are encountered."
"I had previously purchased Rosetta Stone which provides no workbooks and the online access costs $14 per month or $89 per year....this after you pay a premium price for something that is no better than this product."
"However, I decided to leave this feedback since Living Language really has to be appreciated for their great method of teaching, their great service and their great price that is very affordable."
Best Reading Skills Reference
In this resource-rich book, you’ll find: - All the planning and instructional tools you need to teach guided reading well, from pre-A to fluent, organized around Richardson’s proven Assess-Decide-Guide framework. Reading Next Step Forward in Guided Reading is like talking with Jan. You get clear, practical, and actionable suggestions for helping children move along a trajectory of growth toward evermore challenging texts.”. ―Holly Slaughter, Reading and Language Arts Specialist, Pinellas County Schools, FL.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Book!"
"It has helped me stream line my guided reading lessons!"
"My teachers love this book!"
"great book and resource but expensive!"
"super useful for new teacher."
"Best book for guided reading."
"Packed full of useful information you can use on day 1."
"Great book!"
Best Handwriting Reference
Today, in our computer age, a fine, beautiful, and legible handwriting brings a warm personal touch to our correspondence.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you want to purchase this, I say go for it, but try to keep in mind what you are signing up for: The Spencerian method depends on a decent-sized writing desk or table with ample room to "sit properly" as the theory book will explain in detail. Good penmanship will only come if you commit to holding and wielding the pen in a way that is very counterintuitive for people of this day and age, and it will take a lot of effort and a little discomfort to do it correctly while still being able to relax the muscles you are using and not get cramped up. The paper in these bindings is truly subpar for the kinds of pens and inks they were originally intended for, but don't let that discourage you unless you are genuinely purist and don't have the time to make your own practice sheets. There is no instruction for indenting paragraphs, handling flourishes, drawing birds or any of the other skills that tend to fall into either the practical or the more calligraphic side of the Spencerian method. It is easier to feel the push and pull of the strokes and develop a good technique using any other kind of tip than with ballpoint (yes, even with pencil). The method that this book is pushing is industrial, to say the least, and embraces this kind of mechanized teaching philosophy. What this product has to offer is a simplified, comprehensive guide to breaking into Spencerian without having to read a lot of text and organizing lessons for yourself. This product is a great resource, not only for dedicated calligraphers and other hobbyists, but also for everyday folks who are willing to invest a little extra time into a skill in order to reap its practical benefits."
"Platt Rogers Spencer, the developer of the Spencerian method of penmanship in 1840, published this short book about the "theory of proper penmanship" in 1870, along with five Copybooks, making his teaching method the gold standard for handwriting instruction in the late 19th Century. The theory book describes how writing classes for boys and young men should be implemented (women couldn't work as bank clerks or secretaries yet). ", and had to be able to be able to identify multiple points and angles of a circular diagram, with a special emphasis on "What is the slant of 52 degrees in the Spencerian writing called? It required too much manual dexterity for young children, though, so in the 1950s children began learning to use manuscript (block) letters in first grade and to write connected letters using the Zaner-Bloser method in third and fourth grade (usually just referred to as "print" and "cursive"). Now, many schools no longer teach handwriting beyond the manuscript-style printing kids learn in first grade and from Sesame Street-- why bother, when no one writes by hand anymore?"
"The complementary book 'Spencerian Handwriting' 978-1-61243-528-2 contains the above theory but also includes a copy book section to practice the individual letter forms."
"I didn't think I would need to do all the book work, but having done all of these, now I know why muscle memory is crucial."
"One of the most beloved of script styles, useful in calligraphy, often known to us moderns as "Coca-Cola lettering.""
Best Sign Language
Full-color photos on flash cards present close-ups of a model demonstrating 500 American Sign Language (ASL) signs. Geoffrey S. Poor is Professor of ASL at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Flash cards are handy and can be taken on the go."
"This has been a great tool for learning ASL for our family!"
"I love everything virtual.. wish these were online and not actual physical cards."
"My granddaughter is teaching herself how to sign."
"The flash cards for sign language have been a big factor in my daughter. Learning sign language."
"Very useful, but sometimes signs are different than what we do in my area of the United States."
"I'm happy with this purchase."
"Much better than the animated or draw sign language note cards."
Best Communication Reference
Taking the reader on a journey from Dale Carnegie’s birthplace to Harvard Business School, from a Tony Robbins seminar to an evangelical megachurch, Susan Cain charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the twentieth century and explores its far-reaching effects. Perhaps most inspiring, she introduces us to successful introverts--from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. In our culture, which emphasizes group work from elementary school through the business world, everything seems geared toward extroverts. With Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking , Cain explores introversion through psychological research old and new, personal experiences, and even brain chemistry, in an engaging and highly-readable fashion. Introverts are to extroverts what women were to men at that time--second-class citizens with gigantic amounts of untapped talent. The bias against introversion leads to a colossal waste of talent, energy, and, ultimately, happiness. At first I thought I was taking on an enormous challenge, because in my mind, the successful lawyer was comfortable in the spotlight, whereas I was introverted and occasionally shy. But I soon realized that my nature had a lot of advantages: I was good at building loyal alliances, one-on-one, behind the scenes; I could close my door, concentrate, and get the work done well; and like many introverts, I tended to ask a lot of questions and listen intently to the answers, which is an invaluable tool in negotiation. Abraham Lincoln was revered as a man who did not “offend by superiority,” as Emerson put it. Here are two to consider: (1) Introverts perform best in quiet, private workspaces—but unfortunately we’re trending in precisely the opposite direction, toward open-plan offices. (2) If you want to get the best of all your employees’ brains, don’t simply throw them into a meeting and assume you’re hearing everyone’s ideas. Ask people to put their ideas in writing before the meeting, and make sure you give everyone time to speak. A: The best thing parents and teachers can do for introverted kids is to treasure them for who they are, and encourage their passions. (3) Not calling them “shy”--they’ll believe the label and experience their nervousness as a fixed trait rather than an emotion they can learn to control. Studies suggest that many of the most creative people are introverts, and this is partly because of their capacity for quiet. A Reader’s Guide for Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking By Susan Cain. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled "quiet," it is to introverts that we owe many of the great contributions to society-from van Gogh’s sunflowers to the invention of the personal computer. Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. QUIET talks about the New Groupthink, the value system holding that creativity and productivity emerge from group work rather than individual thought. QUIET talks about “restorative niches,” the places introverts go or the things they do to recharge their batteries.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My entire life has been on hold since this started, I get home from work too exhausted to do anything except veg out for a couple hours and go to bed, and even weekends aren't much better. I learned that the job situation I'm currently in - the non-stop deadline demands, interruptions, never being able to work quietly or alone no matter how difficult a project was, phones ringing incessantly, people in my face all day long, etc. And as enlightening as it was to learn how many of the traits I've beat myself up for over the years are just a product of my introverted temperament (being highly sensitive, shutting down when subjected to stimulation overload, preferring to think a thing through before I speak - something I never get to do at work, as if it takes me more than 5 seconds to say something, I get interrupted and cut off), the most important thing I got from this book is that it's okay to be myself, it's okay to feel the way I do. I am not weak or a failure because I don't feel or behave like my extremely extroverted boss (who thrives in high-energy crisis mode, and is bored unless he's doing 10 things at once - and expects the rest of us to keep up). I also found the information on the history of the "rise of the Culture of Personality" completely fascinating, it really gave me a new insight as to just exactly how we 'grew' this tendency to value extroversion over introversion. I know I will meet resistance from my boss (I'd love for him to read this book, but unfortunately I know he won't), and I know I won't instantly fix everything in one day, and that I'll probably always need to be able to stretch myself a bit to do things that are not ideal for me ... but this book taught me that there are ways to make that work, too, if you understand and honor the need for recharging around such tasks, instead of trying to force yourself to do them 8 hours a day with no break. The wealth of information and insights in this book cannot be overstated - especially if you are an introverted type of person who has always felt there was something not quite right about you, or that you somehow needed to change to fit in or succeed. Thank you, Susan Cain, from the bottom of my heart (which is finally beating at a more normal speed because I'm not panicked about going to work for the first time in months)."
"This book is written by an introvert, and while it discusses extroversion, it focuses on the benefits of introversion. I like myself, but reading this book made me feel like there are many other people who face the same feelings and worries that I do. Somewhere while reading this book, I stopped feeling like I was a good teacher despite my introverstion but that I am a good teacher largely because of my introversion."
"As somebody who has been called at some point or another the gamut of terms associated with introversion, from "shy" (which I don't object) to "anti-social" (which I most certainly consider unfair), I found in Susan Cain's "Quiet," the validation and appreciation many introverts have been searching for. In "Quiet," Ms. Cain explains the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the 1920s and how it is that today we associate talkative, risk-taking, and action-oriented people with intelligence, beauty, power and success. She interviews scientists who have conducted hundreds of studies to test different theories in an effort to determine how much of our temperament is a result of genetics and/or of our free will. For those still deciding on a career, the author reminds readers that research shows that introverts are not reward-seeking like extroverts, but rather motivated by the enjoyment they find in pursuing an activity; in other words, by being in what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls the "flow"."
Best Phonetics & Phonics Reference
Explode The Code provides a sequential, systematic approach to phonics in which students blend sounds to build vocabulary and read words, phrases, sentences, and stories.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"At best, they begin teaching phonics in first grade after teaching high frequency words with flashcards in kindergarten... which simply teaches young children that the way to read is to memorize what a "word picture" looks like. From everything I've read, getting a kid who has learned to read this way to put in the effort to learn phonics is like pulling teeth so I was determined to teach my daughter proper reading with phonics. She could pick out the letters in simple words that she heard and read simple C-V-C words like 'cat'. I checked out several books from the library, including "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons", "Phonics Pathways", and "The Reading Lesson". (2) Can your child blend letters together to read simple C-V-C words like "cat"? If not, play word games to get her hearing those letter sounds, play "spot the letter ___" in stores where each of you try to find things that start with a specific letter. (3) Once your child knows those letter sounds and understands the concept of sounding out words, you are ready for these books."
"I love this series of books for homeschooling!"
"I bought this for my daughter who I homeschool for Kindergarten."
"This book started my daughter reading !!"
"These books are wonderful."
"boy likes it and learning to read and write quickly."
"I am homeschooling my kindergartner and he has been doing so well with this book!"
Best Study & Teaching Reference
Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading. Dr. Mortimer J. Adler was Chairman of the Board of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Director of the Institute for Philosophical Research, Honorary Trustee of the Aspen Institute, and authored more than fifty books.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The second reading involves digging in, an attempt to understand and analyze the author's central argument or thesis, and the third reading is for the purpose of argument, i.e., of reflecting on where we agree with the book and where we disagree, and why... 50 years after that first reading, i still try to follow the advice (above), and find it as helpful and true today as it was back then."
"This level means “skimming systematically” to grasp as much as you can from a book in a limited time-frame (possibly just a few minutes). If “Customer’s Review” sections existed during their time, I am sure they would also have devoted a portion of Chapter 4 to provide insights on how to better profit from them. These note-taking techniques are indispensable to read well and the reader is advised to experiment with them and adapt them to his own style of understanding and to the new types of media now available. The authors present these questions in sequence, but they are quick to explain that in practice (and with experience) we should try to answer them mostly simultaneously. You should then proceed to outline its main parts, each of which should be treated as a subordinate whole and have its unity also expressed. This process could continue ad aeternum, but “the degree of approximation varies with the character of the book and your purpose in reading it”. This means first reconciling the grammatical and the logical aspects of what he writes by matching his chosen words with the terms they express. Part 3 is useful in that it provides some interesting aspects of specific types of reading material, namely practical books, history (including biographies and current events), imaginative literature (including plays and poems), science and mathematics, philosophy and the social sciences. There is, however, a lot of value in this part of the book, specially in the later chapters, and the reader is strongly advised to read it. One thing I should say is that, while they detail interesting aspects of reading imaginative literature, their techniques mostly apply to expository works. You are simply trying to understand the controversy itself, to establish the many voices you hear in a pure exercise of dialectical objectivity. This is a fantastic topic, which the authors have materialised in their greatest contribution to mankind, in my opinion — the Syntopicon, volumes II and III of the Great Books of the Western World. ), but the authors are prompt to address the reader and explain that the list does not have any time frame attached to it. For a much more restrictive (but also magnificent) reading list, the reader is referred to the 10-year-reading plan provided in Adler’s Great Books. Like they state at the beginning of the appendix, the selected texts are "themselves worth reading", so you can’t lose much by doing so. It is a delightful taste of what awaits you in your future exploits of the Great Books — if you do well and accept the challenge, of course. I’ll be forever in debt with two of the greatest absent teachers I’ve had, Dr. Mortimer J. Adler and Dr. Charles Van Doren."
"Now after reading a book, I have a little notebook that contains my interpretation of the topics and this gives me a whole new insight and intellect to what was discussed. Every schools and colleges should first teach this to students before recommending papers for sememsters."
"The author explains his outlook on four levels of reading: elementary reading, inspectional reading, analytical reading and syntopical reading. The vast majority of people read at an elementary level, if they read at all."
Best Public Speaking Reference
NOTE: This is a Standalone book and does not include Access card/ Code. His major articles include "The Schism in Rhetorical Scholarship" (1981), "The Renaissance of American Public Address: Text and Context in Rhetorical Criticism" (1988), "The Stylistic Artistry of the Declaration of Independence” (1990), and “The Rhetorical Ancestry of the Declaration of Independence” (1998), for which he received the Golden Anniversary Monograph Award of the National Communication Association. Professor Lucas has received a number of teaching awards, including the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Wisconsin and the National Communication Association’s Donald Ecroyd Award for Outstanding Teaching in Higher Education. In addition to participating in public speaking workshops and colloquia at schools throughout the United States, he has served as a judge for the major national English-language public speaking competitions in China, has lectured at numerous Chinese universities, and has conducted workshops for Chinese instructors on teaching public speaking.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I rented this and only opened it 2-3 times the whole semester and the cover fell off the book."
"It helps break down public speaking into easy to understand steps."
"Used it for class, pretty good overall."
"A useful book to support your public speaking endeavor for absolute beginner."
"Best price and some good tips."
Best Vocabulary, Slang & Word Lists
From Jim Carrey to Sister Carrie, Homer Simpson to Homer’s Iliad, the wide-ranging entries include 500,000+ synonyms, 3,000+ literary works, 3,000+ films, 20,000+ famous people from all fields, and more than 50,000 fill-in-the-blank clues so popular in today’s crosswords. “The largest, most up-to-date, and most useful crossword dictionary available.” (from the Introduction by Will Shortz, New York Times Crossword Editor). A must for the crossword aficionado.” (Rich Norris, Los Angeles Times crossword editor). “...this remarkable book is destined to be not just another crossword dictionary, but the crossword dictionary.” (Wayne Robert Williams, Chicago Tribune crossword editor).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Frequent usage demands a durable binding and the paperback just does not fit the bill and quickly wears out."
"When I first downloaded this book and tried to use it on the Samsung Kindle app I got very frustrated. However I wanted to install it on my Kindle Paperwhite so I purchased it again. This time I find that I can use it on the Samsung Kindle app. I haven't managed to download this to my Kindle, but for the moment, I am well pleased with the tablet app performance."
"I have personally laminated the covers to give it some body and have added a jacket for the book, but as the pages are folded and bent as one works with the new edition it will not hold up."
"The version now shipping has about 1500 entries updated to 2016 at the end, after the XYZ section, which includes sports, movies, politicians (i.e. foreign leaders)."
"Was in great condition for used book and good price with quick shipping."
"I will re-order this 2nd edition because it is so helpful, but it does need an update on content and a hard cover for those of us who work crossword puzzles daily and Saturday and Sunday."
"It contains everything from every kind of Oscar winner, scads of foreign country info, first and last name entries, phrases with missing words, singers with lists of their hits, movies with complete cast listings and foreign words."
"I've bought it for others as a gift, and the recipients are thrilled with the book. January 2010 update: Having purchased a Kindle, I was excited to get this dictionary on the Kindle, so I wouldn't have to lug out that huge book all the time."
Best Words, Language & Grammar Reference
Use the fourth edition of "the little book" to make a big impact with writing. "No book in shorter space, with fewer words, will help any writer more than this persistent little volume." "The book remains a nonpareil: direct, correct, and delightful." "It's hard to imagine an engineer or a manager who doesn't need to express himself in English prose as part of his job. It's also hard to imagine a writer who will not be improved by a liberal application of The Elements of Style ."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"edition (the one with the blue cover that is expanded) and I own the 3rd edition (which is not expanded). I've always struggled with being concise in my writing, and this book is THE book to help you maximize your writing."
"Classic book, I don't know one better."
"I bought this for a family member who is writing a book."
"It is by-far the best book book for conveying a message with concision and clarity."
"If you are a writer and need some quick referencing for your style and answered questions about how to use elements of structure in the literary world, this book is perfect."
"William Strunk's original guide, before the modern updates by E. B."
"A beginner or novice needs another book on writing that includes those aspects of the written english language."
"Anyone who even thinks about wanting to write should have this book on the nighttable, or within easy reach of brief periodic readings. The underlying point, like all good English books, is that there really is no new way to say, "it is," although overuse of "be" is a detriment to vivid writing."