I would third the recommendation of "Stuff of Thought". Steven Pinker
recommended it to me in a reply to one of my emails, and I hadn't read
it until then. It was an excellent recommendation for the topic we were
discussing, and is the stuff of genius, but it bears noting that it
deals with a very specific topic : language from a cognitive science of
point of view. Not everybody agrees with everything Steven Pinker says
in the book.
To add another recommendation to the pile : a good book on the
linguistic history of the world is Nicholas Ostler's "Empires of the
Word".
Anand--- In silk-l...@yahoogroups.com, Udhay Shankar N <udhay@...>
wrote:
>
> Since so many of us are fascinated by words and language. I can second
> the recommendation for _The Stuff of Thought_, and the others sound
> worthy of adding to the TBR pile as well.
>
> Any others to add to this list?
>
> Udhay
>
>
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/02/10/5-must-read-books-abou\
t-language/
>
> Meta: 5 Must-Read Books on Words & Language
>
> By [27]Maria Popova
>
> What single Chinese men have to do with evolution and insults from
> Virginia Woolf.
>
> We [28]love, [29]love, [30]love words and language. And what better
way
> to celebrate them than through the written word itself? Today, we
turn
> to five of our favorite books on language, spanning the entire
spectrum
> from serious science to serious entertainment value.
>
> THE STUFF OF THOUGHT
>
> [31][stuffofthought.jpeg] Harvard's [32]Steven Pinker is easily
the
> world's most prominent and prolific psycholinguist, whose
multi-faceted
> work draws on visual cognition, evolutionary science, developmental
> psychology and computational theory of mind to explain the origin
and
> function of language. [33]The Stuff of Thought: Language as a
Window
> into Human Nature reverse-engineers our relationship with language,
> exploring what the words we use reveal about the way we think. The
book
> is structured into different chapters, each looking at a different
tool
> we use to manage information flow, from naming to swearing and
> politeness to metaphor and euphemism. From Shakespeare to pop
songs,
> Pinker uses a potent blend of digestible examples and empirical
> evidence to distill the fundamental fascination of language: What
we
> mean when we say.
>
> Sample [34]The Stuff of Thoughtwith Pinker's fantastic 2007 TED
talk:
>
> [EMBED]
>
> THE SNARK HANDBOOK
>
> [35][snarkhandbook2.png] In 2009, [36]The Snark Handbook: A
Reference
> Guide to Verbal Sparring became an instant favorite with its
> enlightening and entertaining compendium of history's greatest
> masterpieces in the art of mockery, contextualizing today's era
of
> snark-humor and equipping us with the shiniest verbal armor to
thrive
> as victor knights in it. Last year, author Lawrence Dorfman
released a
> worthy sequel: [37]The Snark Handbook: Insult Edition: Comebacks,
> Taunts, and Effronteries a linguistic arsenal full of
strategic
> instructions on how and when to throw the jabs of well-timed snark
> alongside a well-curated collection of history's most skilled
literary
> insult-maestros.
>
> Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig her up and
hit
> her over the skull with her own shin-bone." ~ Mark Twain on
Jane
> Austen
>
> It's a new low for actresses when you have to wonder
what's between
> her ears instead of her legs." ~ Katherine Hepburn on Sharon
Stone
>
> I am reading Henry James
and feel myself as one entombed in
a block
> of smooth amber." ~ Virginia Woolf on Henry James
>
> He was a great friend of mine. Well, as much as you could be a
> friend of his, unless you were a fourteen-year-old nymphet."
~
> Capote on Faulkner
>
> Ultimately, the book is the yellow brick road to what, deep down,
you
> know you always knew you were: Better than everybody else. (Read
our
> full review [38]here.)
>
> KEYWORDS
>
> [39][keywords.jpg] Originally published in 1976 by legendary Welsh
> novelist and critic Raymond Williams, [40]Keywords: A Vocabulary of
> Culture and Society offers a fascinating and timeless lens on
language
> from a cultural rather than etymological standpoint, examining the
> history of over 100 familiar yet misunderstood or ambiguous words,
from
> `art' to `nature' to `welfare' to
`originality.'
>
> The book begins with an essay on `culture' itself,
dissecting the
> historical development and social appropriation of this ubiquitous
and
> far-reaching semantic construct. It paints a living portrait of the
> constant transformation of culture as reflected in natural
language. So
> seminal was Williams' work that in 2005, Blackwell attempted an
> ambitious update to his text in [41]New Keywords: A Revised
Vocabulary
> of Culture and Society.
>
> IN OTHER WORDS
>
> [42][inotherwords.jpg] As beautiful as the English language may be,
it
> isn't without insufficiencies. C. J. Moore's curates the
most poetic of
> them rich words and phrases from other langauges that
don't have an
> exact translation in English, but convey powerful, deeply human
> concepts, often unique to the experience of the culture from which
they
> came. (For instance, in Tierra del Fuego there is a specific word
> mamihlapinatapei for that an expressive, meaningful romantic
silence
> between two people. And in China, gagung literally means "bare
sticks"
> but signifies the growing population of men who will will remain
> unmarried because China's one-child policy and unabashed
preference for
> male progeny has reduced the proportion of women.)
>
> Witty and illuminating, the book covers 10 different types of
languages
> spanning across various eras and locales, from ancient and
classical to
> indigenous to African to Scandinavian, digging to find the precious
> meanings lost in translation.
>
> I'M NOT HANGING NOODLES ON YOUR EARS
>
> [43][hangingnoodles.png] From researcher Jag Bhalla comes
[44]I'm Not
> Hanging Noodles on Your Ears and Other Intriguing Idioms From
Around
> the World an entertaining piece of linguistic tourism,
exploring how
> different cultures construct their worldview through the nuances of
> language.
>
> The book is divided into different themes, from food to love to
just
> about everything in between, that reveal specific cultural
dispositions
> towards these subjects through the language in which they are
framed.
>
> [EMBED]
>
>
> References
>
> Visible links
> 1. http://feedproxy.google.com/brainpickings/rss
> 2.
>
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/02/10/5-must-read-books-abou\
t-language/feed/
> 3. http://www.brainpickings.org/
> 4. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2007/08/30/6/
> 5.
>
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/02/09/panorama-fold-out-book\
/
> 6.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/02/10/saul-bass-interview/
> 7. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/about
> 8. mailto:brainpicker@...
> 9. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter
> 10. http://astore.amazon.com/brainpickings-20
> 11. http://art.brainpickings.org/
> 12. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/
> 13. http://feedproxy.google.com/brainpickings/rss
> 14. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/
> 15. http://www.twitter.com/brainpicker
> 16. http://mpopova.stumbleupon.com/
> 17.
>
http://del.icio.us/post?title=Brain%20Pickings&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brai\
npickings.org%2F¬es=
> 18. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brain-Pickings/55555550744?ref=mf
> 19. http://twittercounter.com/?username=brainpicker
> 20. http://www.share.holstee.com/l/21/2669
> 21. http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-4145262-10787591
> 22. http://longreads.com/
> 23. http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-4145262-10837727
> 24.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000IXINLC?tag=bpads-20&camp=213381&creative=3\
90973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B000IXINLC&adid=1Y32VN5QPRZEZQNEBXMT&
> 25. http://www.ted.com/
> 26. http://www.share.holstee.com/l/11/2669
> 27. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/author/mpopova/
> 28.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2010/08/19/save-the-words/
> 29. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2009/06/10/wordnik/
> 30. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2010/08/13/on-words/
> 31.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LITSJI?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creativ\
e=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B002LITSJI&adid=12PHDDK3H4AEW90XNZE6&
> 32.
>
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww\
.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fentity%2FSteven-Pinker%2FB000AQ3GGO%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref\
_%3Dntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1&tag=braipick-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creativ\
e=390957
> 33.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LITSJI?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creativ\
e=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B002LITSJI&adid=12PHDDK3H4AEW90XNZE6&
> 34.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LITSJI?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creativ\
e=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B002LITSJI&adid=12PHDDK3H4AEW90XNZE6&
> 35.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1616080590?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creativ\
e=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1616080590&adid=0MGR35JV56F7SQF4F6EX&
> 36.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1602397600?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creativ\
e=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1602397600&adid=1CYT940Z0XP510F50Y5K&
> 37.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1616080590?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creativ\
e=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1616080590&adid=0MGR35JV56F7SQF4F6EX&
> 38.
>
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2010/12/06/the-snark-handbook-ins\
ults-edition/
> 39.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195204697?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creativ\
e=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0195204697&adid=13ESMKNJQV91S2QFQ3CD&
> 40.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195204697?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creativ\
e=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0195204697&adid=13ESMKNJQV91S2QFQ3CD&
> 41.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0631225692?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creativ\
e=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0631225692&adid=1MQBNGT3FEXW4KVFF9MG&
> 42.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802714447?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creativ\
e=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0802714447&adid=0MEASZ5TQQ7QQ2G2E6E5&
> 43.
>
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1416953817?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creativ\
e=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1416953817&adid=0NKC23TEFF7YDYV903NS&
> 44.
>
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/02/10/5-must-read-books-abou\
t-language/
>
> --
> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
>
