Author Archives: Specialist Online Dictionary

An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn’t (Hardcover)

An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn't

Amazon.com Review

You’ll find everything you forgot from school–as well as plenty you never even learned–in this all-purpose reference book, an instant classic when it first appeared in 1987. The updated version takes a whirlwind tour through 12 different disciplines, from American studies to philosophy to world history. Along the way, Judy Jones and William Wilson provide a plethora of useful information, from the plot of Othello to the difference between fission and fusion. It’s not a shortcut to cultural literacy, the authors write in their introduction, but it’s an excellent “way in” to the building blocks of Western civilization: the “books, music, art, philosophy, and discoveries that have, for one reason or another, managed to endure.” Think of it as finishing school for your brain; study up and you’ll gain a lifetime’s worth of cocktail conversation–as well as a new list of books you simply must read.
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Moral Politics : How Liberals and Conservatives Think (Paperback)

Moral Politics : How Liberals and Conservatives Think

Review

“[An] unusual mix of judicious scholarship, tendentious journalism and inflammatory wake-up call.” – Editors’ Recommendation, San Francisco Chronicle; “Lakoff, the cognitive linguist, understands ‘how’ you understand. In Moral Politics, [he] deftly applies that seemingly arcane understanding to the heart of American politics…. His commitment is strong and deep, but his language is far from the rhetoric usually associated with political partisanship…. Even those who disagree with him will profit deeply from encountering his challenging ideas.” – Paul Rosenberg, Christian Science Monitor; “Lakoff’s stunning book opens a whole new understanding of public discourse in America. Both conservatives and liberals have much to learn from this work.” – Robert Bellah, University of California, Berkeley

George Lakoff’s book is a crucial key to understanding political opponents and achieving political victory. In this first full-scale application of (more…)

Palindromes and Anagrams (Paperback)

Palindromes and Anagrams

Fascinating word-lover’s treasury brings together over 1,100 different anagrams and nearly as many palindromes, plus a host of related phenomena—charades, circular reversals, vocabularyclepts, etc., plus much high-level commentary and observation.

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