Language defines us as a species, placing humans head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators. But it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries, allowing us to ponder why different languages emerged, why there isn't simply a single language, how languages change over time and whether that's good or bad, and how languages die out and become extinct.

Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. Grammar Girl, is determined to wipe out bad grammar—but she's also determined to make the process as painless as possible. One year ago, she created a weekly podcast to tackle some of the most common mistakes people make while communicating. More than seven million episodes have now been downloaded, and Mignon has dispensed grammar tips on Oprah and appeared on the pages of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

About 2400 years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote one of the most important pieces of logic. Within his treatise rhetorical, he showed that the claims are more persuasive when articulated within three distinct but inseparable dimensions: ethos (credibility), logos (reason,) and pathos (emotion). Over the subsequent 125 years, attitudes have generated considerable interest in social sciences because of the widespread perception that they have a strong influence on actions, decisions, and judgments.

Grammar! For many of us, the word triggers memories of finger-wagging schoolteachers, and of wrestling with the ambiguous and complicated rules of using formal language. But what is grammar? In fact, it's the integral basis of how we speak and write. As such, a refined awareness of grammar opens a world of possibilities for both your pleasure in the English language and your skill in using it, in both speech and the written word.

Have you ever wondered how to improve your English grammar skills with little to no effort at all? How about the most effective ways to master punctuation and structure sentences like a professional book editor? If so, keep reading because you’re in for a treat...The information contained in this audiobook is designed to help fix your grammar skills once and for all. The application of what you learn in this audiobook can help you see results in as little as one week, and change your life forever.

Learn about the history and philosophy of Stoicism - and how to apply its principles to your everyday life.

You will find in this book frequent English words that share the same root. Therefore, you will find it is very easy to relate different English words to the common root and remember its meaning. In this book, you'll find a great guide to English root words and how to use them.

Word Workout is a practical audiobook for building vocabulary - a graduated program featuring thousands of words that begins with those known by most college graduates and ascends to words known only by the most educated, intelligent, and well-read adults. This workout is a comprehensive program, chock-full of information about synonyms, antonyms, and word origins, and replete with advice on proper usage and pronunciation.

In today’s world of pure abundance, it’s becoming more difficult to live in moderation. Let’s face it, most of our desires are often a few clicks away, which is why many turn to Stoicism. In this short but informative audiobook, Stoicism: Redefine your Passions and Live the Stoic Way, you will discover many of the traits of stoic people and how you can become more like them, while also dispelling many of the myths that surround them.

In A Mind for Numbers, Dr. Oakley lets us in on the secrets to learning effectively - secrets that even dedicated and successful students wish they’d known earlier. Contrary to popular belief, math requires creative, as well as analytical, thinking. Most people think that there’s only one way to do a problem, when in actuality, there are often a number of different solutions - you just need the creativity to see them.

This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."

Whenever we worry about what to eat, how to love, or simply how to be happy, we are worrying about how to lead a good life. No goal is more elusive. In How to Be a Stoic, philosopher Massimo Pigliucci offers Stoicism, the ancient philosophy that inspired the great emperor Marcus Aurelius, as the best way to attain it. Stoicism is a pragmatic philosophy that teaches us to act depending on what is within our control and separate things worth getting upset about from those that are not.

In this eloquent and persuasive book, Neil Postman examines the deep and broad effects of television culture on the manner in which we conduct our public affairs, and how "entertainment values" have corrupted the very way we think. As politics, news, religion, education, and commerce are given less and less expression in the form of the printed word, they are rapidly being reshaped to suit the requirements of television.

Logical thinking is something everyone tries, but only some succeed. Do you think logically? You may be surprised by the answer. Perhaps you have come a long way; I am sure you have. But there is more to learn. There is more to explore and discover. So here is my suggestion, Einstein: I believe your brain has great potential, but only if you use it. My invitation is to use it by listening to this book. And I would be crazy if I wouldn’t reveal some of the specific topics you will be faced with.

It is indisputable that human intelligence makes our species stand out from other lives on Earth. Our brains, much more than our muscles, explain our successes in development, as well as our sometimes devastating effects on the planet. Our modern brain is an evolutionary feat in development for over 520 million years and is the key to everything that makes us the entirety of humanity. But while the human brain is remarkable, what happens if people stop being intelligent?

Who needs philosophy? Ayn Rand's answer: Everyone. This collection of essays was the last work planned by Ayn Rand before her death in 1982. In it, she summarizes her view of philosophy and deals with a broad spectrum of topics. According to Ayn Rand, the choice we make is not whether to have a philosophy, but which one to have: a rational, conscious, and therefore practical one, or a contradictory, unidentified, and ultimately lethal one.

In the years between her first public lecture in 1961 and her last in 1981, Ayn Rand spoke and wrote about topics as different as education, medicine, Vietnam, and the death of Marilyn Monroe. In The Voice of Reason, these pieces are gathered together in book form for the first time. Written in the last decades of Rand's life, they reflect a life lived on principle, a probing mind, and a passionate intensity. With them are five essays by Leonard Peikoff, Rand's longtime associate and literary executor.

By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear the Allies would win the Second World War. Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic thought the soon-to-be-victorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. These Christian intellectuals - Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil, among others - sought both to articulate a sober and reflective critique of their own culture and to outline a plan for the moral and spiritual regeneration of their countries in the post-war world.

Marilynne Robinson has plumbed the human spirit in her renowned novels, including Lila and Gilead, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In this new essay collection she trains her incisive mind on our modern political climate and the mysteries of faith. Whether she is investigating how the work of great thinkers about America, like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Alexis de Tocqueville, inform our political consciousness or discussing how beauty informs and disciplines daily life, Robinson's peerless prose and boundless humanity are on full display.

This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."

About Behaviorism is about the controversial philosophy known as behaviorism, written by its leading exponent.

In the aftermath of World War II, the United States stood at a precipice. The forces of modernity unleashed by the war had led to astonishing advances in daily life, but technology and mass culture also threatened to erode the country's traditional moral character. As award-winning historian George M. Marsden explains in The Twilight of the American Enlightenment, postwar Americans looked to the country's secular liberalelites for guidance in this precarious time, but these intellectuals proved unable to articulate a coherent common cause by which America could chart its course.

In just 1,337 words, the Declaration of Independence changed the world, but curiously it is now rarely read from start to finish, much less understood. Unsettled by this, Danielle Allen read the text quietly with students and discovered its animating power. "Bringing the analytical skills of a philosopher, the voice of a gifted memoirist, and the spirit of a soulful humanist to the task, Allen manages to find new meaning in Thomas Jefferson' s understanding of equality," says Joseph J. Ellis about Our Declaration.

From one of the leading critics of leftist orientations comes a study of the thinkers who have most influenced the attitudes of the New Left. Beginning with a ruthless analysis of New Leftism and concluding with a critique of the key strands in its thinking, Roger Scruton conducts a reappraisal of such major left-wing thinkers as E. P. Thompson, Ronald Dworkin, R. D. Laing, Jurgen Habermas, Gyorgy Lukacs, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Derrida, Slavoj Žižek, Ralph Milliband, and Eric Hobsbawm. Scruton delivers a critique of modern left-wing thinking.

Listeners of this book will gain a clear understanding of what makes the Japanese, and their society, tick.

The spirit of our times can appear to be one of joyless urgency. As a culture we have become less interested in the exploration of the glorious mind, and more interested in creating and mastering technologies that will yield material well-being. But while cultural pessimism is always fashionable, there is still much to give us hope.

Richard J. Evans shows us how historians manage to extract meaning from the recalcitrant past. To materials that are frustratingly meager, or overwhelmingly profuse, they bring an array of tools that range from agreed-upon rules of documentation to the critical application of social and economic theory, all employed with the aim of reconstructing a verifiable, usable past. Evans defends this commitment to historical knowledge from the attacks of postmodernist critics who deny the possibility of achieving any kind of certain knowledge about the past.

As Douglas Adams points out, if there is no final answer to the question "what is the meaning of life?" 42 is as good or bad an answer as any other. Indeed, 42 quotes might be even better! Gary Cox guides us through 42 of the most misunderstood, misquoted, provocative, and significant quotes in the history of philosophy, providing witty and compelling commentary along the way.

Within the concentric circles of Trump's regime lies an unseen culture of occultists, power-seekers, and mind-magicians whose influence is on the rise. In this unparalleled account, historian Gary Lachman examines the influence of occult and esoteric philosophy on the unexpected rise of the alt-right.

For the past 30 years, David Mamet has been a controversial and defining force in theater and film, championing the most cherished liberal values along the way. In some of the great movies and plays of our time, his characters have explored the ethics of the business world, embodied the struggles of the oppressed, and faced the flaws of the capitalist system. But in recent years Mamet has had a change of heart.

Better Vocabulary in 30 Minutes a Day offers a lively and entertaining method for adding a more impressive list of words to your everyday speech, and for learning how to use them effortlessly and accurately. Besides giving definitions, this invaluable guide also provides root meanings and elements of words so you can increase your vocabulary base by thousands of exciting new words and use them with aplomb in sentences.

In this cutting-edge program, 30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary, personal development expert and English enthusiast Dan Strutzel will instruct, enlighten, and inspire you with a concentrated 30-day program that will teach you over 500 words. But, more than teaching you these words, the uniquely designed morning and evening review sessions will ensure that these words become a habit-knit part of your life - and with minimal effort on your part.

Word Workout is a practical audiobook for building vocabulary - a graduated program featuring thousands of words that begins with those known by most college graduates and ascends to words known only by the most educated, intelligent, and well-read adults. This workout is a comprehensive program, chock-full of information about synonyms, antonyms, and word origins, and replete with advice on proper usage and pronunciation.

Language defines us as a species, placing humans head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators. But it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries, allowing us to ponder why different languages emerged, why there isn't simply a single language, how languages change over time and whether that's good or bad, and how languages die out and become extinct.

After years of teaching intermediate students who never seemed to improve, I decided to find out what the problem was. Essentially, intermediate students get stuck because learning at this stage is a different type of learning than at the beginner stage. You have mastered the grammar and the basic vocabulary, but most textbooks just carry on like nothing has changed. However, what you need at the intermediate stage is not just more dry grammar and lists of vocabulary.

Have you ever wondered how to improve your English grammar skills with little to no effort at all? How about the most effective ways to master punctuation and structure sentences like a professional book editor? If so, keep reading because you’re in for a treat...The information contained in this audiobook is designed to help fix your grammar skills once and for all. The application of what you learn in this audiobook can help you see results in as little as one week, and change your life forever.

You're frustrated with not being understood. You're tired of shying away from conversations and presentations that keep you from making significant gains in your career and making connections in your social life. This guide is a culmination of all of the “mysterious secrets” that non-native English speakers search for on their journey to speaking with clear, fluent English pronunciation.

Speak Easy is a framework to help anyone who is struggling with communication to learn the three A’s. They will learn how to be Articulate, Assertive, and Audacious when presenting their message and interacting with others. Eliminate hesitancy and build a voice full of power. In Speak Easy, you will learn: The traits that make up a confident communicator, how to use your thoughts, words, tonality, and body language effectively, strategies on how to develop an interesting personality, processes to create your own voice, ideas, and insights, and much more.

Sure, you can learn English with a language course or a textbook just fine, and climb up the ranks in terms of your grasp of the language....but are you sure you can talk like a native? For starters, many expressions used by fluent speakers of English can’t exactly be learned in a book, and it can be frustrating to realize that your formal learning hasn’t been enough to teach you the way people talk in real life. Sometimes, it’s all about having the right tools at your disposal...and this is where The Great Book of American Idioms comes in!

The main aim of the courses is to teach the most popular irregular verbs, idioms and phrasal verbs that occur most frequently in everyday conversations. Learning takes place through the association of meanings in contexts. The exercises in each lesson allow the learner to master and consolidate the expressions quickly. This is effective learning, easy and accessible to everyone! "Irregular Verbs Part 1" and "Irregular Verbs Part 2" introduce 100 popular irregular verbs and teach how to use them in the appropriate tenses and grammatical forms. Idioms Part 1 & 2 teaches more than 300 idiomatic phrases that appear in typical situations.

Guaranteed to make learning SAT vocabulary words quick, easy, and fun, SAT Words To Go is conveniently designed to allow you to master words found on the New SAT while you're on the run.