Download or read book The Pun Also Rises written by John Pollack and published by Avery. This book was released on 2012-04-03 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At once entertaining and educational, this engaging book is a funny, erudite, and provocative exploration of puns, the people who make them, and this derided wordplay's remarkable impact on human history.
Download or read book The Son Also Rises written by Gregory Clark and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "How much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? How much does this influence our children? More than we wish to believe! While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favor of greater social equality, The Son Also Rises proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over eight centuries. Using a novel technique -- tracking family names over generations to measure social mobility across countries and periods -- renowned economic historian Gregory Clark reveals that mobility rates are lower than conventionally estimated, do not vary across societies, and are resistant to social policies. The good news is that these patterns are driven by strong inheritance of abilities and lineage does not beget unwarranted advantage. The bad news is that much of our fate is predictable from lineage. Clark argues that since a greater part of our place in the world is predetermined, we must avoid creating winner-take-all societies."--Jacket.
Download or read book Cork Boat written by John Pollack and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2005-04-12 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 165,321 corks 1 boat Most people have childhood dreams; few ever pursue them. At the age of 34, John Pollack quit a prestigious speechwriting job on Capitol Hill to pursue an idea he had harbored since the age of six: to build a boat out of wine corks and take it on an epic journey. In Cork Boat, Pollack tells the charming and uplifting story of this unlikely adventure. Overcoming one obstacle after another, he convinces skeptical bartenders to save corks, corrals a brilliant but disorganized partner, and cajoles more than a hundred volunteers to help build the boat, many until their fingers bleed. Hired as a speechwriter for President Clinton midway through construction, Pollack soon has the White House saving corks, too. Ultimately, he and his crew set sail down the Douro River in Portugal, where the boat becomes a national sensation. Written with unusual grace and disarming humor, Cork Boat is a buoyant tale of camaraderie, determination, and the power of imagination.
Download or read book Jokes and the Linguistic Mind written by Debra Aarons and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-02-27 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through the lens of cognitive science, Jokes and the Linguistic Mind investigates jokes that play on some aspect of the structure and function of language. In so doing, Debra Aarons shows that these 'linguistic jokes' can evoke our tacit knowledge of the language we use. Analyzing hilarious examples from movies, plays and books, Jokes and the Linguistic Mind demonstrates that tacit linguistic knowledge must become conscious for linguistic jokes to be understood. The book examines jokes that exploit pragmatic, semantic, morphological, phonological and semantic features of language, as well as jokes that use more than one language and jokes that are about language itself. Additionally, the text explores the relationship between cryptic crossword clues and linguistic jokes in order to demonstrate the difference between tacit knowledge of language and rules of language use that are articulated for a particular purpose. With its use of jokes as data and its highly accessible explanations of complex linguistic concepts, this book is an engaging supplementary text for introductory courses in linguistics, psycholinguistics and cognitive science. It will also be of interest to scholars in translation studies, applied linguistics and philosophy of language.
Download or read book Shortcut written by John Pollack and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-09-29 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A former presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton explores the hidden power of analogy to fuel thought, connect ideas, spark innovation, and shape outcomes. From the meatpacking plants that inspired Henry Ford’s first moving assembly line to the domino theory that led America into Vietnam to the “bicycle for the mind” that Steve Jobs envisioned as the Macintosh computer, analogies have played a dynamic role in shaping the world around us—and still do today. Analogies are far more complex than their SAT stereotype and lie at the very core of human cognition and creativity. Once we become aware of this, we start seeing them everywhere—in ads, apps, political debates, legal arguments, logos, and euphemisms, to name just a few. At their very best, analogies inspire new ways of thinking, enable invention, and motivate people to action. Unfortunately, not every analogy that rings true is true. That’s why, at their worst, analogies can deceive, manipulate, or mislead us into disaster. The challenge? Spotting the difference before it’s too late. Rich with engaging stories, surprising examples, and a practical method to evaluate the truth or effectiveness of any analogy, Shortcut will improve critical thinking, enhance creativity, and offer readers a fresh approach to resolving some of today’s most intractable challenges.
Download or read book Have a Little Pun written by Frida Clements and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2015-08-11 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Artist Frida Clements playfully combines colorfully detailed flora and fauna drawings with funny hand-lettered wordplay in this collection of beautifully illustrated puns. Honey, bee yourself! Gopher it. Don't be koi. Like puns? That's coo, says the pigeon. Hate puns? Birch, please. Bringing a giggle (and sometimes a groan) with each inspired page, this clever ebook makes a lovely and lighthearted gift for fans of witty humor and illustration. Having a bad hare day? Feeling a little antsy? What the hail, just dill with it, and for fox sake, have a little pun.
Download or read book The Little Book of Puns written by Alison Westwood and published by Canary Press. This book was released on 2011-11-29 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today's busy world, where text-speak seems to be the prevalent form of written English, and the average teenager can barely form a proper sentence without using the numbers '4' or '8' as substitutes for letters, is the pun becoming an endangered species? As a society we have come to regard wordplay as old-fashioned, obvious humour, because it hinges simply on one word having multiple definitions, spellings or sound-a-likes. It may not be controversial, edgy or even topical, but it actually takes a great deal of skill, wit and general knowledge to come up with a decent pun not everyone can do it. THE LITTLE BOOK OF PUNS explores the dying art of paronomasia and gives us a taste of the very best wordplay history has to offer. It harks back to the heady days when intelligence was measured at dinner parties rather than behind a school desk, when people still wrote letters instead of emails and actually read newspapers instead of checking out a website. This book may as well exist in anti gravity, because you ll find it almost impossible to put down!
Download or read book Does the Name Pavlov Ring a Bell written by Gary Blake and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-01-02 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone loves wordplay! This collection of more than eight hundred quips and pun-filled anecdotes will have your friends in stitches! Classics and new inventions fill these pages with humor and wit. Divided into chapters according to theme—animals, celebrities, careers, food, and so on—there’s a pun for every occasion! Author Gary Blake dares you not to snicker at his contrivances: Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie. Davy Crockett had three ears. A left ear, a right ear, and a wild frontier. A backwards poet writes inverse. Santa’s helpers are subordinate Clauses. Like tavern owners, ballet dancers make most of their money at the barre. Horses in the movies only have bit parts. Why does the Pope travel so much? Because he’s a roamin’ Catholic. Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder. A Freudian slip is when you say one thing and mean your mother. Eve was the first person to eat herself out of house and home. I used to work in a blanket factory, but the company folded. The calendar thief only got twelve months. A great gift or coffee table book, there’s no time like the present to order a copy of Does the Name Pavlov Ring a Bell? for the word-twisting, pun-loving humorist in your life.
Download or read book Away with Words written by Joe Berkowitz and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-06-13 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[Away with Words] is low wit in its highest form. . . Mr. Berkowitz is sensitive throughout to the evanescence and contingency of punning and to the fleeting chemistry of a live pun-on-pun matchup crackling with energy." –Wall Street Journal Fast Company reporter Joe Berkowitz investigates the bizarre and hilarious world of pun competitions from the Punderdome 3000 in Brooklyn to the World competition in Austin. When Joe Berkowitz witnessed his first Punderdome competition, it felt wrong in the best way. Something impossible seemed to be happening. The kinds of jokes we learn to repress through social conditioning were not only being aired out in public—they were being applauded. As it turned out, this monthly show was part of a subculture that’s been around in one form or another since at least the late ‘70s. Its pinnacle is the O. Henry Pun Off World Championship, an annual tournament in Austin, Texas. As someone who is terminally self-conscious, Joe was both awed and jealous of these people who confidently killed with the most maligned form of humor. In this immersive ride into the subversive world of pun competitions, we meet punsters weird and wonderful and Berkowitz is our tour guide. Puns may show up in life in subtle ways sometimes, but once you start thinking in puns you discover they’re everywhere. Berkowitz’s search to discover who makes them the most, and why, leads him to the professional comedian competitors on @Midnight, a TV show with a pun competition built into it, the writing staff of Bob’s Burgers, the punniest show on TV, and even a humor research conference. With his new unlikely band of punster brothers, he finally heads to Austin to compete in the World Championship. Of course, in befriending these comic misfits he also ended up learning that when you embrace puns you become a more authentic version of yourself.
Download or read book The Best Book of Puns written by Art Moger and published by . This book was released on 1988-01 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of "Complete Pun Book" comes an all new collection. Here, readers will find a hilarious abundance of pun-ishment for the millions who can't resist giving a word or phrase a twist--and ammunition for many occasions from movie, TV and theater wags; from the wits of Wall Street and Washington; the gems from poets and pundits and some of the bottom-of-the-barrel crumbs! Introduction by Bob Hope. **Lightning Print On Demand Title
Download or read book The Rather Large Book of Puns written by Benjamin Branfman and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-04-18 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lots of pun books claim to have hundreds of puns, but they really just offer a few dozen good ones mixed in with other types of jokes or quotes. This book actually contains over 500 excellent and original puns: It's real, it's quality, and it's rather large indeed. What more do you need?
Download or read book Graffiti Palace written by A. G. Lombardo and published by MCD. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliant, exhilarating debut novel that retells The Odyssey during the 1965 Watts Riots—like nothing you’ve ever read before It’s August 1965 and Los Angeles is scorching. Americo Monk, a street-haunting aficionado of graffiti, is frantically trying to return home to the makeshift harbor community (assembled from old shipping containers) where he lives with his girlfriend, Karmann. But this is during the Watts Riots, and although his status as a chronicler of all things underground garners him free passage through the territories fiercely controlled by gangs, his trek is nevertheless diverted. Embarking on an exhilarating, dangerous, and at times paranormal journey, Monk crosses paths with a dizzying array of representatives from Los Angeles subcultures, including Chinese gangsters, graffiti bombers, witches, the Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, and others. Graffiti Palace is the story of a city transmogrified by the upsurge of its citizens, and Monk is our tour guide, cataloging and preserving the communities that, though surreptitious and unseen, nevertheless formed the backbone of 1960s Los Angeles. With an astounding generosity of imagery and imagination, Graffiti Palace heralds the birth of a major voice in fiction. A. G. Lombardo sees the writings on our walls, and with Graffiti Palace he has provided an allegorical paean to a city in revolt.
Download or read book A Farewell to Alms written by Gregory Clark and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2008-12-29 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why are some parts of the world so rich and others so poor? Why did the Industrial Revolution--and the unprecedented economic growth that came with it--occur in eighteenth-century England, and not at some other time, or in some other place? Why didn't industrialization make the whole world rich--and why did it make large parts of the world even poorer? In A Farewell to Alms, Gregory Clark tackles these profound questions and suggests a new and provocative way in which culture--not exploitation, geography, or resources--explains the wealth, and the poverty, of nations. Countering the prevailing theory that the Industrial Revolution was sparked by the sudden development of stable political, legal, and economic institutions in seventeenth-century Europe, Clark shows that such institutions existed long before industrialization. He argues instead that these institutions gradually led to deep cultural changes by encouraging people to abandon hunter-gatherer instincts-violence, impatience, and economy of effort-and adopt economic habits-hard work, rationality, and education. The problem, Clark says, is that only societies that have long histories of settlement and security seem to develop the cultural characteristics and effective workforces that enable economic growth. For the many societies that have not enjoyed long periods of stability, industrialization has not been a blessing. Clark also dissects the notion, championed by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel, that natural endowments such as geography account for differences in the wealth of nations. A brilliant and sobering challenge to the idea that poor societies can be economically developed through outside intervention, A Farewell to Alms may change the way global economic history is understood.
Download or read book The Eighth Scroll written by Laurence B. Brown and published by Booksurge Publishing. This book was released on 2008-02-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mysterious, revealing and prophetic, this historically relevant modern thriller explores religious authority while providing a wild ride of international intrigue and danger.
Download or read book The Book Of Lies written by Aleister Crowley and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2023-12-29 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Book of Lies was written by English occultist and teacher Aleister Crowley under the pen name of Frater Perdurabo. As Crowley describes it: "This book deals with many matters on all planes of the very highest importance. It is an official publication for Babes of the Abyss, but is recommended even to beginners as highly suggestive." The book consists of 91 chapters, each of which consists of one page of text. The chapters include a question mark, poems, rituals, instructions, and obscure allusions and cryptograms. The subject of each chapter is generally determined by its number and its corresponding Qabalistic meaning.
Download or read book The Great Indian Novel written by Shashi Tharoor and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this award-winning novel, Tharoor has masterfully recast the two-thousand-year-old epic, The Mahabharata, with fictional but highly recognizable events and characters from twentieth-century Indian politics. Nothing is sacred in this deliciously irreverent, witty, and deeply intelligent retelling of modern Indian history and the ancient Indian epic The Mahabharata. Alternately outrageous and instructive, hilarious and moving, it is a dazzling tapestry of prose and verse that satirically, but also poignantly, chronicles the struggle for Indian freedom and independence.
Download or read book A Book of Bad Jokes Pitiful Puns Woeful Wordplay and Ridiculous Riddles Hardcover written by Hugh Jass and published by . This book was released on 2018-08-27 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hundreds of jokes congregate in this amazing compilation of some of the greatest bad jokes and puns there are. Uniting several forms of terrible gag in one ceaseless, relentless volume, A Book of Bad Jokes, Pitiful Puns, Woeful Wordplay and Ridiculous Riddles is intended to be a text every aspiring or current bad joke teller would love in his library. Authored by known pun and bun master Hugh Jass, this manual intends to amuse and educate its readers on the art of inventing truly awful humor. Ample quantities of ideas and an exhaustive demonstration of the form used mean that you can not only cringe, but create your own horrific jokes. After introducing the book and its uses, Hugh takes us through an enormous combination of terrible one-liners and question and answer jokes. The conclusion of the book meanwhile is framed in riddles both ordinary and poetic in form.
