Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists

Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists
Author: James Geary
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2008-12-08
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1596917881

Both an expert and a collector, James Geary has devoted his life to aphorisms-and the last few years to organizing, indexing, and even translating them. The result is Geary's Guide, featuring aphorists like Voltaire, Twain, Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Woody Allen, Muhammad Ali, Emily Dickinson, and Mae West, as well as international practitioners appearing in English for the first time. But it is more than just a conventional anthology. It is also an encyclopedia, containing brief biographies of each author in addition to a selection of his or her aphorisms. The book is a field guide, too, with aphorists organized into eight different "species," such as Comics, Critics & Satirists; Icons & Iconoclasts; and Painters & Poets. The book's two indexes-by author and by subject-make it easily searchable, while its unique organizational structure and Geary's lively biographical entries set it apart from all previous reference works. A perfect follow-up to Geary's New York Times bestseller The World in a Phrase, Geary's Guide is eminently suitable for browsing or for sustained reading. A comprehensive guide to our most intimate, idiosyncratic literary form, the book is an indispensable tool for writers and public speakers as well as essential reading for all language lovers.

The World in a Phrase

The World in a Phrase
Author: James Geary
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2011-02-01
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 160819762X

Starting with the ancient Chinese and ending with contemporary Europeans and Americans, The World in a Phrase tells the story of the aphorism through spirited and amusing biographies of some of its greatest practitioners, including Emily Dickinson, and Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker; great French aphorists like Montaigne, La Rochefoucauld, and Chamfort; philosophers like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein; as well as prophets and sages like the Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Jesus. In our modern age, The World in a Phrase explores how aphorisms still retain the power to instigate and inspire, enlighten and enrage, entertain and edify. James Geary is the author of The Body Electric: An Anatomy of the New Bionic Senses. He lives in London with his wife and three children. "James Geary's celebration of the smallest-and sometimes wisest-of literary forms. Geary defines the characteristics of aphorisms and discusses their history and their role in his life, and shares the work of renowned aphorists from Buddha to Dr. Seuss."-Associated Press

We are what We Think

We are what We Think
Author: James Geary
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006
Genre: Aphorisms and apothegms
ISBN: 9780719561351

What sets wise words apart from the clichés and soundbites we encounter every day? When a saying has the power to reach out and change your life, it is no longer a platitude or a proverb but an aphorism. Self-confessed aphorism addict James Geary takes a whimsical, humorous tour through the history of this remarkable subject and its extraordinary practitioners. With a scope that reaches from the ancient Eastern prophets to American one-liners, from the Greek and Roman Stoics to the great German philosophers, the book's focus is life, the universe and everything.

Wit's End: What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It

Wit's End: What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It
Author: James Geary
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2018-11-13
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 039325495X

Entertaining, illuminating, and entirely unique, Wit’s End “convey[s] the power of wit to refresh the mind” (Henry Hitchings, Wall Street Journal). In “this inventive and playful book” (Tom Beer, Newsday), James Geary explores every facet of wittiness, from its role in innovation to why puns are the highest form of wit. Adopting a different style for each chapter—from dramatic dialogue to sermon, heroic couplets to a barroom monologue—Geary embodies wit in all its forms. Wit’s End agilely balances psychology, folktale, visual art, and literary history with lighthearted humor and acute insight, demonstrating that wit and wisdom are really the same thing.

I Is an Other

I Is an Other
Author: James Geary
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2011-02-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0062041770

For lovers of language and fans of Blink and Freakonomics, New York Times bestselling author James Geary offers this fascinating look at metaphors and their influence in every aspect of our lives, from art to medicine, psychology to the stock market. From President Obama’s political rhetoric to the bursting of the housing bubble, from conversations to commercials, James Geary shows that every aspect of our day-to-day experience is molded by metaphor. Geary takes readers from Aristotle’s investigation of metaphor right up to the latest neuroscientific insights into how metaphor works in the brain. Romeo’s exclamation “It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!” may be one of the most well-known metaphors in literature, but metaphor is more than a device of love-struck poets. As Geary demonstrates, metaphor has leaped off the page and landed with a mighty splash right in the middle of the stream of consciousness. Witty, persuasive, and original, I Is an Other explores metaphor’s effects on financial decision making, effective advertising, leadership, learning, and more.

The Viking Book of Aphorisms

The Viking Book of Aphorisms
Author: Wystan Hugh Auden
Publisher: Barnes & Noble Publishing
Total Pages: 456
Release: 1962
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780880290562

"More than 3000 selections from more than 400 authors" -- Dust jacket.

I Is an Other

I Is an Other
Author: James Geary
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2012-01-24
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780061710292

From President Obama’s political rhetoric to the bursting of the housing bubble, from conversations to commercials, James Geary shows that every aspect of our day-to-day experience is molded by metaphor. Geary takes readers from Aristotle’s investigation of metaphor right up to the latest neuroscientific insights into how metaphor works in the brain. Witty, persuasive, and original, I Is an Other explores metaphor’s effects on financial decision making, effective advertising, leadership, learning, and more. Romeo’s exclamation “It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!” may be one of the most well-known metaphors in literature, but metaphor is more than a device of love-struck poets. As Geary demonstrates, metaphor has leaped off the page and landed with a mighty splash right in the middle of the stream of consciousness.

The Oxford Book of Aphorisms

The Oxford Book of Aphorisms
Author: John Gross
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
Total Pages: 383
Release: 1983
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 9780192804563

Gathers witty quotations about nature, religion, fear, hope, fame, wealth, politics, marriage, happiness, knowledge, language, and death

Wisdom Writers Around the World

Wisdom Writers Around the World
Author: John W. Lorton
Publisher: Inspiring Voices
Total Pages: 94
Release: 2012-09-18
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1462403026

Many of the great one-liner thoughts of the past have gone unexplained or even unread. Contained in this volume are some of those thoughts and aphorisms, accompanied by a brief explanation of what each one means. How appropriate that early authors of aphorisms were called wisdom writers. John Lorton ably explains the philosophic underpinnings of selected aphorisms and reveals the wisdom inherent in their succinct expression. Alice Kawazoe, California Academic Partnership Program, California State University, and the Stanford Research Network The author, John W. Lorton, states that aphorisms cannot be defined, yet here is a compilation of aphorisms clearly defined through example. This collection of aphorisms from great minds throughout the centuries not only clarifies each aphorism through example, but unlike James Gearys Guide to the Worlds Great Aphorists, elaborates on each aphorism by applying it to twentieth- and twenty-first-century life, making the book a valuable tool for high school and university teachers of English, philosophy, and social studies. Nancy Polette, Professor at Lindenwood University, St. Charles, Missouri

Short Flights

Short Flights
Author: James Lough
Publisher: IPG
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2015-12-01
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 1936182904

A compilation of satirical and philosophical aphorisms from modern writers on the cutting edge of their craft A unique anthology that draws together the work and musings of our leading pioneers of short-form writing, this book features writers who take this time-honored literary form to new heights. Concise, wise, and sometimes terse or humorous, aphorisms are short phrases that are often instructional or moralistic. With a brief introductory piece from each author and a generous sampling of each individual's particular take on the aphorism, the reader is presented with a vast trove of wit, wisdom, insight, and inspiration, as well as new ways to look at language, words, and writing. From "Nothing dirtier than old soap" to "He doesn't need imagination—he's got money," the writers expound upon their favorite adages. The contributors range from prize-winning poets Charles Simic and Stephen Dobyns to bestselling authors like James Geary, David Shields, and experimental writers such as Olivia Dresher and Yahia Lababidi. Short Flights is sure to intrigue and delight all lovers of literature, language, and wordplay.