From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. "Metaphorical thinking is the way we make sense of the world" and neurological research shows that humans experience pleasure when performing the "cognitive gymnastics" of deciphering metaphors to connect two dissimilar things, asserts Geary (The World in a Phrase) in a delightful examination that borrows for its title from a poem by Rimbaud, whose writing aimed to "upset conventional orders of perception." Tests on people who do not understand metaphors, such as those with Asperger's syndrome, uncover the roles that "mirror" and "Gnostic" neurons play in conceptual comprehension and long-term memory. Geary also analyzes how metaphors are used in advertising, scientific discoveries, economics, and politics. "Metaphors, once forgotten or ignored, are easily mistaken for objective facts," he warns, showing how metaphor "surreptitiously infiltrates our purchasing decisions." Voters, consumers, and investors interested in knowing how their decisions may be influenced by well-planned metaphors will be fascinated by Geary's adept explication of the metaphor's role in defining perceptions. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. Review“In his fine new book, James Geary [shows that] metaphors are not rhetorical frills at the edge of how we think. They are at the very heart of it.” (David Brooks, New York Times ) “Smart fun for anyone fascinated by the play of language. . . . Geary traces the history of [metaphor] from Aristotle to Elvis.” (Washington Post ) “An illuminating study of metaphor in all its guises...Required reading for anyone with even a passing interest in language.” (Time Out London ) “Enchanting...It is [its] playful celebration of meanings that makes this book optimistic. And though the subtitle has a whiff of conspiracy about it, the sheer ubiquity of metaphor in everyday life makes the book feel urgent....addictive...Geary writes with clarity and power.” (The Independent ) “The author further manages to weave together a fascinating amount of information. . . . I Is an Other really shines when it focuses on the simple yet profound . . . you’ll never look at a metaphor the same way again—metaphorically speaking.” (New York Journal of Books ) “This book is a prism, refracting the white light of language into a kaleidoscopic celebration of its images and etymologies.” (Ben Schott, author of Schott’s Original Miscellany and Schott’s Almanacs ) “Sherlock Holmes could glance at a bowler hat and tell that its owner’s wife had ceased to love him. In this brilliant book about metaphor James Geary is no less astonishing....You’ll scarf down every page of I Is an Other and then ask for more.” (Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and author of Book by Book and Classics for Pleasure ) “Geary . . . succeeds in making the case that metaphor is the meat of language and not a sauce.” (Wall Street Journal ) “This book is for everyone interested in the subtle operations of language and thought....I is an Other is one of those ‘must-read’ books for this year, for any year. It deserves a wide audience, and it will find one.” (Jay Parini, Professor of English and Creative Writing, Middlebury College and author of Promised Land: Thirteen Books that Changed America ) Views: 47
In these reader-favorite stories by Joanne Rock, danger, secrets and passion collide as two women get a second chance in the arms of their sexy protectorsDon't Look BackNYPD detective Donata Casale has put her past behind her and is climbing the ranks at her precinct. Until she's assigned to a case with the man who once arrested her: the dangerously sexy P.I. Sean Beringer. Keeping things strictly business proves impossible, and they're soon burning up the sheets together. As her partner brings her to the breaking point of passion, Donata lays it all on the line—to solve the case and win her man.Just One LookFor body double Tabitha Everheart, spending her days practically naked with gorgeous men should be easy. Sure it's a poor imitation of the real thing but her short-lived disastrous marriage has left her gun-shy. When a literal bullet shatters her apartment window and she needs protection, sexy cop Warren Vitalis steps in. But Tabitha can only keep her... Views: 47
One of the things Bill Evans enjoys the most is talking to young people about weather. Middle-schoolers in particular, Evans says, are deeply interested in the natural world and in weather. It's Raining Fish and Spiders covers everything, from tornadoes and hurricanes to lightning and the different kinds of snowflakes. Evans addresses weather myths and facts, from "Can it really rain fish?" to "Will opening a window save my house during a tornado?" Evans also tells his most exciting personal weather stories: flying with the Hurricane Hunters, riding pell-mell through Tornado Alley with storm chasers, and visiting the coldest place on Earth. The book includes simple weather experiments that can be performed at home without expensive equipment.Extensively researched, fact-filled, and packed with charts, tables, illustrations, and amazing photographs, It's Raining Fish and Spiders is an entertaining and educational addition to the library... Views: 47
Get all three novels in Neal Stephenson's New York Times bestselling "Baroque Cycle" in one e-book, including: Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World. This three-volume historical epic delivers intrigue, adventure, and excitement set against the political upheaval of the early 18th century. Views: 47
Chance of a lifetime It's finally Heather Finley's moment. After spending years looking after her mother in the tiny town of Heartache, Tennessee, Heather's about to follow her dream of singing country music. She can nearly hear the audiences hollering... until the town's handsome mayor, Zach Chance, comes to her with troubling questions about her late father's past. Once again, Heather has to choose: protect her family or chase her heart's desire? Zach is determined to help, and to convince Heather that she belongs in Heartache - with him. But is he just another distraction? Or could he be the one to show Heather how a small-town love can make her big-time dreams come true? Views: 47
Desert D'Or is the fashionable Californian resort where Hollywood's elite converge when they need a break. It is an incestuous hothouse of a town - a haven for manipulators, film stars, lovers, pimps, producers, whores, gamblers, scriptwriters and cheats. Into this nightmare world of depravity arrives Sergius O'Shaughnessy, recently discharged from the Air Force, traumatised by his ar experiences and trying to write the Great American Novel. But O'Shaughnessy's burning ambition begins to lose its edge; lured by greed and rules by weakness, he soon becomes disturbingly familiar with the dnagerous life of slick compromises and sexual follies... The Deer Park is a powerful and vigorous satire on Hollywood's excesses and corruption. Combining a savage imagination with a heightened documentary realism, Mailer paints an uncompromising and terrifying portriat of a decadent society lost in moral confusion and despair. Views: 47
"This is the most important book on Silicon Valley I've read in two decades. It will take us all back to our roots in the counterculture, and will remind us of the true nature of the innovation process, before we tried to tame it with slogans and buzzwords." — Po Bronson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nudist on the Late Shift and Nurtureshock A candid, colorful, and comprehensive oral history that reveals the secrets of Silicon Valley — from the origins of Apple and Atari to the present day clashes of Google and Facebook, and all the start-ups and disruptions that happened along the way.Rarely has one economy asserted itself as swiftly—and as aggressively—as the entity we now know as Silicon Valley. Built with a seemingly permanent culture of reinvention, Silicon Valley does not fight change; it embraces it, and now powers the American economy and global innovation. So... Views: 47
TOGETHER THEY FOUND THE ONE THING THAT ELUDED THEM AS INDIVIDUALS: A PLACE IN THE WORLD. Views: 47
The dramatic, pulse-pounding story of Harry Truman's first four months in office, when this unlikely, small-town Washington outsider had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and the atomic bomb, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Heroes are often defined as ordinary characters who get thrust into extraordinary circumstances, and through courage and a dash of luck, cement their place in history. Chosen as FDR's fourth-term vice president for his well-praised work ethic, good judgment, and lack of enemies, Harry S. Truman was the prototypical ordinary man, still considered an obscure Missouri politician. That is, until he was shockingly thrust in over his head after FDR's sudden death. At the climactic moments of the Second World War, Truman had to play judge and jury during the founding of the United Nations, the Potsdam Conference, the Manhattan Project, the Nazi surrender, the liberation of concentration camps, and the decision to drop the bomb and... Views: 46
