This is the book on all of Tolkien's invented languages,spoken by hobbits, elves, and men of Middle-earth -- a dicitonaryof fourteen languages, an English-Elvish glossary, all the runesand alphabets, and material on Tolkien the linguist.

In the attempt to make good one of the desiderata in Bacon'sAdvancement of Learning, a cohort of seventeenth-centuryphilosophers, scientists, schoolmasters, clergymen and virtuosiattempted to devise artificial languages that would immediatelyrepresent the order of thought. This was believed directly torepresent the order of things and to be a universal characteristicof the human mind. Language, Mind and Nature is a 2007 text whichfully reconstructs this artificial language movement. In so doing,it reveals a great deal about the beliefs and activities of thosewho sought to reform learning in seventeenth-century England.Artificial languages straddle occult, religious andproto-scientific approaches to representation and communication,and suggest that much of the so-called 'new philosophy' was notvery new at all. This study broke important ground within itsfield, and will interest anyone concerned with early modernintellectual history or with the history of linguistic thought ingeneral.

Why is it that some writers struggle for months to come up withthe perfect sentence or phrase while others, hunched over akeyboard deep into the night, seem unable to stop writing? In TheMidnight Disease, neurologist Alice W. Flaherty explores themysteries of literary creativity: the drive to write, what sparksit, and what extinguishes it. She draws on intriguing examples frommedical case studies and from the lives of writers, from FranzKafka to Anne Lamott, from Sylvia Plath to Stephen King. Flaherty,who herself has grappled with episodes of compulsive writing andblock, also offers a compelling personal account of her ownexperiences with these conditions.

The cowboy that enigmatic, larger-than-life icon of our culturehas long been considered a figure of fast hands, steel nerves, andfew words. But according to Ramon Adams, cowboys, once amongthemselves, enjoyed a vivid, often boisterous repartee. You mightsay that around a campfire they could make more noise than ajackass in a tin barn. Here in one volume is a complete guide tocowboy-speak. Like many of todays foreign language guides, thishandy book is organized not alphabetically but situationally, lestyou find yourself in Texas at a loss for words. There are sectionson the ranch, the cowboys duties, riding equipment, the roundup,roping, branding, even square dancing. There are words and phrasesyoull recognize because theyve filtered into everyday language bluelightnin, star gazin, the whole shebang plus countless others that,sadly, are seldom heard in current speech: lonely as a preacher onpay night, restless as a hen on a hot griddle, crooked as a snakein a cactus patch. As entertaining as it is authoritati

本书收录了著名诗人吉狄马加近几年的诗歌力作以及有关诗歌的演讲和访谈，这些诗文具有很强烈的生命意识，同时也极具超前的世界视野和深厚的人类情怀，这些作品中有的是抒情短章，充满了哲理和睿智，同时收录了其富有代表意义的长诗，这些长诗大多是诗人对当下重要事件做出的反映，凸显了诗人浓郁的现实主义风格和强烈的“在场”书写特性，同时，很多作品被翻译成多种文字，在国际上产生了很大的影响。因此，本书是一本中英文对照版的诗文集，这既体现了作者国际性诗人的独特性，又体现了作者诗与文的力量和影响。

How do we know a cat is a cat? And why do we call it a cat? Howmuch of our perception of things is based on cognitive ability, andhow much on linguistic resources? Here, in six remarkable essays,Umberto Eco explores in depth questions of reality, perception, andexperience. Basing his ideas on common sense, Eco shares a vastwealth of literary and historical knowledge, touching on issuesthat affect us every day. At once philosophical and amusing, Kantand the Platypus is a tour of the world of our senses, told by amaster of knowing what is real and what is not.