Download or read book Tawdry Knickers and Other Unfortunate Ways to Be Remembered written by Alex Novak and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-10-05 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some are born notorious. Others have notoriety thrust upon them. Few realize that their morning mouthwash bears the name of a life- saving British baron or that their sugary graham crackers would be abhorred by the health-food fanatic who concocted the flavorless original recipe. Throughout history, the proper names of figures both noble and notorious have slipped into the common and uncommon corners of our vocabulary. Tawdry Knickers and Other Unfortunate Ways to Be Remembered details the lamentable lives and legacies of history's most infamous namesakes and the words they inspired: *Henry Shrapnel died of natural causes, despite having invented the shells whose shattering fragments would rain hellfire on soldiers from the Battle of Waterloo through the Vietnam War. *Poor virgin St. Audrey suffered from a bulging neck tumor and the unwanted advances of an unsympathetic husband, but never lived to hear crass vendors eventually hawk her "tawdry" lace. *If New York blueblood Harmen Knickerbocker isn't rolling over in his grave, his nineteenth-century drawers are at least in a twist over having his venerable family name associated with underwear. *Barbara Handler has never been happy about providing the name for the original Barbie, to say nothing of her doll's plastic relationship with Ken-named for her real-life brother. *In contrast to these, dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel avoided the inevitable "merchant of death" epitaph awaiting him by using his enormous explosives fortune to establish the Nobel Prize Foundation. Want to know where your words come from? The surprising, humorous, and often ironic stories behind ninety notable eponyms will take you on an undercover tour of the etymological sausage factory.
Download or read book 10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything written by Mark Jacob and published by Agate Publishing. This book was released on 2012-05-10 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compendium of outrageous, hilarious or just plain shocking trivia about everything from history and politics to arts, religion, technology and much more. For years, the Chicago Tribune’s “10 Things You Might Not Know” column has been informing and entertaining readers on a diverse range of subjects. This volume collects the best of these columns, offering readers obscure, fascinating facts on universal topics that will appeal to everyone from sports fans to history buffs, foodies, and more. Expertly researched and thoroughly entertaining, 10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything contains a plethora of surprising trivia on numerous topics, with an especially close look into Chicago-area history and facts. For example, in Zion, Illinois it was once illegal to spit, eat oysters, wear tan-colored shoes, or whistle on Sundays. 10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything will leave readers brighter, wittier, and curious to learn more about myriad subjects and stories they will never forget.
Download or read book Remaking the World written by Henry Petroski and published by Vintage. This book was released on 1998-12-29 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science/Engineering "Petroski has an inquisitive mind, and he is a fine writer. . . . [He] takes us on a lively tour of engineers, their creations and their necessary turns of mind." --Los Angeles Times From the Ferris wheel to the integrated circuit, feats of engineering have changed our environment in countless ways, big and small. In Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering, Duke University's Henry Petroski focuses on the big: Malaysia's 1,482-foot Petronas Towers as well as the Panama Canal, a cut through the continental divide that required the excavation of 311 million cubic yards of earth. Remaking the World tells the stories behind the man-made wonders of the world, from squabbles over the naming of the Hoover Dam to the effects the Titanic disaster had on the engineering community of 1912. Here, too, are the stories of the personalities behind the wonders, from the jaunty Isambard Kingdom Brunel, designer of nineteenth-century transatlantic steamships, to Charles Steinmetz, oddball genius of the General Electric Company, whose office of preference was a battered twelve-foot canoe. Spirited and absorbing, Remaking the World is a celebration of the creative instinct and of the men and women whose inspirations have immeasurably improved our world. "Petroski [is] America's poet laureate of technology. . . . Remaking the World is another fine book." --Houston Chronicle "Remaking the World really is an adventure in engineering." --San Diego Union-Tribune
Download or read book Of Parrots and People written by Mira Tweti and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses scientific findings on the intelligence, personality, and rich lives of parrots that challenges flawed assumptions about nonprimates. Topics include animal welfare, what parrots are worth on the black market, and their uncanny ability to bond with humans.
Download or read book Wicked Good Words written by Mim Harrison and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-08-02 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to sound like you're from here, no matter where you are in America "Simultaneously full of witty asides and linguistic erudition, Wicked Good Words is one of those rare books that you will read too fast and will find yourself wishing you could read for the first time all over again." -Ammon Shea, author of Reading the OED "As someone who grew up in the land of wicked pissa Sox games, what a delight it was to read about alligator pears, sundogs, piggling, sad cakes, doodinkus, jacklegs, and so many other American regionalisms." -David Wolman, author of Righting the Mother Tongue Wicked Good Words is a collection of words and phrases from places across the United States. Organized by region and peppered with engaging sidebars, it's a uniquely American road trip. You'll discover: *In Ohio, that titillating talk about a four-way is all about a type of chili. *When you rush the growler in Appalachia, you're filling your lunch pail with beer. *A frog strangler in the South will send you running for cover: it's a heavy rain. *In Louisiana and Texas, someone caught pirooting is nosing around. *In the Northwest, something that's spendy is too expensive. *A skeeter hawk, darning needle, snake feeder, spindle, ear sewer, needle, snake doctor, and stinger all refer to the same thing: a mosquito, depending on where you get attacked.
Download or read book Something for Nothing written by T. J. Jackson Lears and published by Viking Adult. This book was released on 2003 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on a vast body of research, Lears ranges through the entire sweep of American history as he uncovers the hidden influence of risk taking, conjuring, soothsaying, and sheer dumb luck on our culture, politics, social lives, and economy."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Instant Physics written by Tony Rothman and published by ibooks. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For all of you who break out in a sweat at the thought of thermodynamics, or freeze up at the mention of quantum mechanics, like a bolt from the blue, INSTANT PHYSICS will zap you through the fascinating history of our most basic, yet baffling, science. From the thousand-year search for proof of the existence of the ever-elusive atom to the varied and heated arguments behind the big bang theory, INSTANT PHYSICS answers all the heavy questions with a light touch. You'll learn:* How the Greek philosophers used the sledgehammer of mathematics to break apart the mysteries of the physical universe.* Why gravity is a "romantic" force.* How to tell the difference between a gluon, a meson, and a quark, even if you can't see them.INSTANT PHYSICS is crammed with special features, including chapter summaries, who's who lists, biographical and historical tidbits, and a host of illustrations, photos, equations, diagrams, and drawings.
Download or read book The Prodigal Tongue written by Lynne Murphy and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-04-10 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CHOSEN BY THE ECONOMIST AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR An American linguist teaching in England explores the sibling rivalry between British and American English “English accents are the sexiest.” “Americans have ruined the English language.” Such claims about the English language are often repeated but rarely examined. Professor Lynne Murphy is on the linguistic front line. In The Prodigal Tongue she explores the fiction and reality of the special relationship between British and American English. By examining the causes and symptoms of American Verbal Inferiority Complex and its flipside, British Verbal Superiority Complex, Murphy unravels the prejudices, stereotypes and insecurities that shape our attitudes to our own language. With great humo(u)r and new insights, Lynne Murphy looks at the social, political and linguistic forces that have driven American and British English in different directions: how Americans got from centre to center, why British accents are growing away from American ones, and what different things we mean when we say estate, frown, or middle class. Is anyone winning this war of the words? Will Yanks and Brits ever really understand each other?
Download or read book 501 Minutes to Christ Personal Essays written by Poe Ballantine and published by Hawthorne Books. This book was released on 2010 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Uglier Than a Monkey s Armpit written by Stephen Dodson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-07-07 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most curious, funny, insightful, and expressive invectives from more than forty languages-fully illustrated, you miserable misokakku. "Misokkasu": Scum of soya paste. (Japanese) "Tu es um borra-battos.": You s**t in your own boots. (Portugese) "Like a fart in a trance.": A dreamy person who seems at a loss what to do. (Scottish) "A pies ci morde lizal!": Literally, a dog has licked your gob. (Polish) "Prumphaensn.": Fartchicken. (Icelandic) Whether borne out of surprise, anger, passion, or humor, curses and insults make up some of the most colorful and profound phrases in a language. In Uglier Than a Monkey's Armpit, word experts Dr. Robert Vanderplank and Stephen Dodson have scoured the world looking for the most interesting, insightful, and expressive invectives from more than forty languages. These are the words you won't learn in any language class. Arranged by language, containing pointers on gestures, and appropriately illustrated, Uglier Than a Monkey's Armpit (a Spanish phrase to avoid) will equip you with the vocabulary to amuse, shock, offend, and let off steam, wherever you happen to be.
Download or read book The Physics of NASCAR written by Diandra L. Leslie-Pelecky and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Draws on the author's expertise in physics, as well as interviews with mechanics, pit crews, and other insiders, to trace the life cycle of a race car and offer insight into the scientific aspects of high-speed racing.
Download or read book Dead Money written by Rudy Stegemoeller and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2007 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The poker gods are smiling on Mark Newcomb. Hes in his elementplaying against the best at a million-dollar Texas Holdem tournament. Marks no pro, just a criminal defense lawyer with incredible instincts and lucky underwear. But keeping his head in the game gets tough when players start dying. The first to get bumped off is poker legend Shooter Deukart. Mark and his gambling buddies are at the top of the suspect list. He offers legal advice to his friends, but when another player gets whacked, hes left wondering if one of them could be the killer. With the police on his back and a mob hitman after him, Mark just wants to make it through the game alive. Will Lady Luck be on his side when the murderer strikes again?
Download or read book Girl from the Gulches written by Mary Ronan and published by Montana Historical Society. This book was released on 2003 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of one woman's life in the West during the second half of the nineteenth century from growing up on the Montana mining frontier to her ascent to young womanhood on a farm in southern California.
Download or read book Out of Control written by Steven Long and published by St. Martin's Paperbacks. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ***This ebook edition does not contain the photo insert that appears in the print edition.*** Clara and David Harris were married on Valentine's Day. Young and in love, they developed a thriving dental business, built a half-million-dollar mansion, and raised the perfect family. Then whispers of an affair between David and his beautiful secretary drifted through their exclusive Houston social circle. A private detective confirmed the rumors. When Clara saw her husband with his mistress, she climbed behind the wheel of her luxurious car and put an end to their charmed life together-by crushing her husband to death underneath the wheels of her silver Mercedes-Benz. What the headline-making trial ultimately revealed was: a high-profile marriage running on empty, marital infidelity, a woman's deadly passion, and the private hell behind a public life of the rich and privileged. Out of Control tells the whole shocking story of this marriage that ended in jealous murder.
Download or read book The Well of Loneliness written by Radclyffe Hall and published by Read Books Ltd. This book was released on 2015-04-24 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This early work by Radclyffe Hall was originally published in 1928 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The Well of Loneliness' is a novel that follows an upper-class Englishwoman who falls in love with another woman while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I. Marguerite Radclyffe Hall was born on 12th August 1880, in Bournemouth, England. Hall's first novel The Unlit Lamp (1924) was a lengthy and grim tale that proved hard to sell. It was only published following the success of the much lighter social comedy The Forge (1924), which made the best-seller list of John O'London's Weekly. Hall is a key figure in lesbian literature for her novel The Well of Loneliness (1928). This is her only work with overt lesbian themes and tells the story of the life of a masculine lesbian named Stephen Gordon.
Download or read book A Deadly Game written by Catherine Crier and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2012-09-11 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Catherine Crier, a former judge and one of television's most popular legal analysts, offers a riveting and authoritative account of one of the most memorable crime dramas of our time: the murder of Laci Peterson at the hands of her husband, Scott, on Christmas Eve 2002. Drawing on extensive interviews with key witnesses and lead investigators, as well as secret evidence files that never made it to trial, Crier traces Scott's bizarre behavior; shares dozens of transcripts of Scott's chilling and incriminating phone conversations; offers accounts of Scott's womanizing from two former mistresses before Amber Frey; and includes scores of never-before-seen police photos, documents, and other evidence. The result is thoroughly engrossing yet highly disturbing -- an unforgettable portrait of a charming, yet deeply sociopathic, killer.
Download or read book The Fun Parts written by Sam Lipsyte and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fun Parts is Sam Lipsyte at his very best—a far-ranging exploration of new voices and vistas from "the most consistently funny fiction writer working today" (Time). A boy eats his way to self-discovery, while another must battle the reality-brandishing monster preying on his fantasy realm. Elsewhere, an aerobics instructor—the daughter of a Holocaust survivor—makes the most shocking leap imaginable to save her soul. These are just a few of the characters you'll encounter in Sam Lipsyte's richly imagined world. Featuring a grizzled and possibly deranged male doula, a doomsday hustler who must face the multi-universal truth of "the real-ass jumbo," and a tawdry glimpse of a high school shot-putting circuit in northern New Jersey, circa 1986, Lipsyte's short stories combine the tragicomic brilliance of his beloved novels with the compressed vitality of Venus Drive.
