Reference and Information Services: An Introduction

L. Kamil Michael

Handbook of Reading Research, Volume IV

The Handbook of Reading Research is the research Handbook for the field. Each volume has come to define the field for the period of time it covers. Volume IV follows in this tradition. The editors extensively reviewed the reading research literature since the publication of Volume III in 2000, as portrayed in a wide array of research and practitioner-based journals and books, to identify the themes and topics covered. As in previous volumes, the focus is on reading research, rather than a range of literate practices. When taken as a set, the four volumes provide a definitive history of reading research. Volume IV brings the field authoritatively and comprehensively up-to-date.

Steven Pinker

The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window Into Human Nature

This New York Times bestseller is an exciting and fearless investigation of language from the author of Better Angels of Our Nature and The Sense of Style and the forthcoming Enlightenment Now "Curious, inventive, fearless, naughty." -New York Times Book Review Bestselling author Steven Pinker possesses that rare combination of scientific aptitude and verbal eloquence that enables him to provide lucid explanations of deep and powerful ideas. His previous books - including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Blank Slate - have catapulted him into the limelight as one of today's most important popular science writers. In The Stuff of Thought, Pinker presents a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. Considering scientific questions with examples from everyday life, The Stuff of Thought is a brilliantly crafted and highly readable work that will appeal to fans of everything from The Selfish Gene and Blink to Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Michael Wex

Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods

A delightful excursion through the Yiddish language, the culture it defines and serves, and the fine art of complaintThroughout history, Jews around the world have had plenty of reasons to lament. And for a thousand years, they've had the perfect language for it. Rich in color, expressiveness, and complexity, Yiddish has proven incredibly useful and durable. Its wonderful phrases and idioms impeccably reflect the mind-set that has enabled the Jews of Europe to survive a millennium of unrelenting persecution . . . and enables them to kvetch about it Michael Wex—professor, scholar, translator, novelist, and performer—takes a serious yet unceasingly fun and funny look at this remarkable kvetch-full tongue that has both shaped and has been shaped by those who speak it. Featuring chapters on curse words, food, sex, and even death, he allows his lively wit and scholarship to roam freely from Sholem Aleichem to Chaucer to Elvis.Perhaps only a khokhem be-layle (a fool, literally a "sage at night," when there's no one around to see) would care to pass up this endearing and enriching treasure trove of linguistics, sociology, history, and folklore—an intriguing appreciation of ...