The Power of Babel

The Power of Babel
Author: John McWhorter
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2003-01-07
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 006052085X

There are approximately six thousand languages on Earth today, each a descendant of the tongue first spoken by Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. While laying out how languages mix and mutate over time, linguistics professor John McWhorter reminds us of the variety within the species that speaks them, and argues that, contrary to popular perception, language is not immutable and hidebound, but a living, dynamic entity that adapts itself to an ever-changing human environment. Full of humor and imaginative insight, The Power of Babel draws its illustrative examples from languages around the world, including pidgins, Creoles, and nonstandard dialects.

The Power of Babble

The Power of Babble
Author: Norman Solomon
Publisher: Laurel
Total Pages: 312
Release: 1992
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Just in time for the height of the 1992 presidential campaign, an essential dictionary for anyone seeking to understand the political doubletalk. Includes examples taken from actual speeches of politicians from Abe Lincoln to George Bush. Solomon co-authored Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media.

Tower of Babble

Tower of Babble
Author: Dore Gold
Publisher: Forum Books
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2005-10-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 140005494X

A United Nations insider exposes the ugly truth about the UN—including how UN organizations have been funding terrorist groups! In the New York Times bestseller Tower of Babble, former United Nations ambassador Dore Gold blows the lid off the UN’s shocking failures to keep international peace, its corruption, its rampant anti-Americanism, and its emboldening of terrorist organizations. Citing previously unpublished documents, a brand-new chapter exclusive to this paperback edition provides the untold story of the infamous oil-for-food scandal—including the real scandal, that the UN let oil-for-food money go to fund terrorist organizations.

Babel

Babel
Author: R F. Kuang
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-09-28
Genre:
ISBN: 9780008660567

THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES AND #1 NYT BESTSELLER 'One for Philip Pullman fans' THE TIMES 'This one is an automatic buy' GLAMOUR 'Ambitious, sweeping and epic' EVENING STANDARD 'Razor-sharp' DAILY MAIL 'An ingenious fantasy about empire' GUARDIAN

Babel

Babel
Author: Gaston Dorren
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2018-12-04
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0802146724

“Babel is an endlessly interesting book, and you don’t have to have any linguistic training to enjoy it . . . it’s just so much fun to read.” —NPR English is the world language, except that 80 percent of the world doesn’t speak it. Linguist Gaston Dorren calculates that to speak fluently with half of the world’s people in their mother tongues, you’d need to know no fewer than twenty languages. In Babel, he sets out to explore these top twenty world languages, which range from the familiar (French, Spanish) to the surprising (Malay, Javanese, Bengali). Whisking readers along on a delightful journey, he traces how these languages rose to greatness while others fell away, and shows how speakers today handle the foibles of their mother tongues. Whether showcasing tongue-tying phonetics, elegant but complicated writing scripts, or mind-bending quirks of grammar, Babel vividly illustrates that mother tongues are like nations: each has its own customs and beliefs that seem as self-evident to those born into it as they are surprising to outsiders. Babel reveals why modern Turks can’t read books that are a mere 75 years old, what it means in practice for Russian and English to be relatives, and how Japanese developed separate “dialects” for men and women. Dorren also shares his experiences studying Vietnamese in Hanoi, debunks ten myths about Chinese characters, and discovers the region where Swahili became the lingua franca. Witty and utterly fascinating, Babel will change how you look at and listen to the world. “Word nerds of every strain will enjoy this wildly entertaining linguistic study.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Beyond the Babble

Beyond the Babble
Author: Bob Matha
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2008-07-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0470200480

Discover how to connect with and inspire employees throughout an organization. Improve your leadership skills -- even if you aren't a "natural" communicator -- with a specific communication strategy that anyone can use. Authors Matha and Boehm present research showing that all managers can improve performance by using the principles outlined in Beyond the Babble. They explore why communication is crucial, how and when to do it, how to embed it in an organization's culture, and how to measure results. They also show how internal communications professionals can improve an organization's communication to the outside world.

The Broken Branch

The Broken Branch
Author: Thomas E. Mann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 0195368711

Two nationally renowned congressional scholars review the evolution of Congress from the early days of the republic to 2006, arguing that extreme partisanship and a disregard for institutional procedures are responsible for the institution's current state of dysfunction.

Power of Babble

Power of Babble
Author: Dennis Petticoffer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 50
Release: 1992-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9781880402030

Future Babble

Future Babble
Author: Dan Gardner
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2010-10-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0771035217

In 2008, as the price of oil surged above $140 a barrel, experts said it would soon hit $200; a few months later it plunged to $30. In 1967, they said the USSR would have one of the fastest-growing economies in the year 2000; in 2000, the USSR did not exist. In 1911, it was pronounced that there would be no more wars in Europe; we all know how that turned out. Face it, experts are about as accurate as dart-throwing monkeys. And yet every day we ask them to predict the future — everything from the weather to the likelihood of a catastrophic terrorist attack. Future Babble is the first book to examine this phenomenon, showing why our brains yearn for certainty about the future, why we are attracted to those who predict it confidently, and why it’s so easy for us to ignore the trail of outrageously wrong forecasts. In this fast-paced, example-packed, sometimes darkly hilarious book, journalist Dan Gardner shows how seminal research by UC Berkeley professor Philip Tetlock proved that pundits who are more famous are less accurate — and the average expert is no more accurate than a flipped coin. Gardner also draws on current research in cognitive psychology, political science, and behavioral economics to discover something quite reassuring: The future is always uncertain, but the end is not always near.

Babble

Babble
Author: W. Bradford Swift
Publisher: Porpoise Publishing
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2016-10-06
Genre:
ISBN:

One young boy is the key to the universe. In this supernatural thriller, a young boy is discovered to be the link between the human race and the farthest reaches of the universe. For Bobbie Cagle, the normal difficulties of growing up are overshadowed by his unique condition, being misdiagnosed as autistic. Caught between his loving mother and those who would use him for their own purposes, Bobbie stands at the center of the universe and forces the human race to the edge of their own evolutionary line. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. -Genesis 11:6 Upon the Towers of Babel, the people of the Earth scattered, and silence fell. Now, on the brink of a new age, the human race leaps forward into the evolutionary void and changes the course of human history forever. For young Bobbie Cagle, the normal difficulties of growing up are overshadowed by his unique condition. Placed on the spectrum, Bobbie’s inability to communicate normally is misdiagnosed for years as Autism and masks the great part in human history that he is destined to play. Unknowingly able to receive transmissions from the farthest reaches of the universe, young Bobbie’s life is forever changed when his unique ability is discovered. Coveted by those who would use him for their own purpose, Bobbie and his mother flee their home out of desperation and fear. In the course of their escape, the truth behind Bobbie’s gift and the effects it may have on the planet begin to the reveal themselves, all the while the future of the human race hangs in the balance. Find out what fate has in store for the human race and grab your copy of Babble today!