Tag: books
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So Runs the Man Away or (The Unexpected Virtue of Synchronicity)
The theme that has defined my 2014, I only now realize, is synchronicity. That Jungian concept (“the occurrence of two or more events that appear to be meaningfully related but not causally related”) bubbled up several times this year, especially in what I was reading, watching, or listening to concurrently. For instance: To name only the…
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Einterstellar
My new definition of cosmic irony: to be in the midst of Walter Isaacson’s Einstein: His Life and Universe as I went to see Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, a marvel of a film that directly references Einstein and his theory of relativity. I had a chuckle during the film when that moment arrived, not because I…
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Three Oatmeal Truths
Today at the library, I read Matthew “The Oatmeal” Inman’s The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances, an extended version of his original web comic about ultra-running. It’s of a piece with his usual ardent and absurdist takes on varying topics. In the book he illustrates a few tips for becoming a…
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The Glass Cage
To never confront the possibility of getting lost is to live in a state of perpetual dislocation. If you never have to worry about not knowing where you are, then you never have to know where you are. —Nicholas Carr, The Glass Cage One time the internet went down at the library and it was like the Apocalypse.…
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Destiny of the Republic
In Assassination Vacation, one of my all-time favorite books, Sarah Vowell calls the circumstances surrounding the Garfield assassination “an opera of arrogance, a spectacle of greed, a galling, appalling epic of egomania dramatizing the lust for pure power, shameless and raw.” After reading Candice Millard’s Destiny of the Republic, which details said circumstances, Vowell’s characterization now almost…
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Deep & The Divine Milieu
At one point in Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, Mason asks his father if there’s magic in the world. Probably not literal magic, his dad replies. But then he asks the boy: if you didn’t know what a whale was and someone told you there was a giant mammal that lived underwater with a heart as big…
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DDC 430-439: Polyglöts Ünite
A Teach Me How To Dewey production This Is How We Dewey: 430 Germanic languages; German 431 German writing system & phonology 432 German etymology 433 German dictionaries 434 Not assigned or no longer used 435 German grammar 436 Not assigned or no longer used 437 German language variations 438 Standard German usage 439 Other…
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DDC 420-429: Nouns and Pronounce
A Teach Me How To Dewey production This Is How We Dewey: While I know a little Spanish, English is (obvs) my primary language. And what a weird language it is. I’m so glad I didn’t have to learn it later in life, because in some ways it makes no sense. Especially pronunciation: this well-known…
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DDC 410-419: Linguistics alfredo
A Teach Me How To Dewey production This Is How We Dewey: 410 Linguistics 411 Writing systems 412 Etymology 413 Dictionaries 414 Phonology 415 Structural systems (Grammar) 416 No longer used—formerly Prosody (linguistics) 417 Dialectology & historical linguistics 418 Standard usage; Applied linguistics 419 Verbal language not spoken or written Regarding the post title: what…
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DDC 400-409: Learn ALL THE WORDS
A Teach Me How To Dewey production This Is How We Dewey: Gotta admit this up front: I friggin’ love words. As an English major, a writer, a reader—pick the reason. I love them so much that I keep a list of cool words I’ve encountered that I want to remember. (*pushes up glasses*) So…
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DDC 390-399: Emily Post-Its
A Teach Me How To Dewey production This Is How We Dewey: This section is a bit of a grab-bag. I suppose customs, etiquette, and folklore fit together under the broad category of culture, but on the shelves this looks like that one drawer in the kitchen where you throw all that miscellaneous crap that…
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DDC 380-389: We built this city on rock and roads
A Teach Me How To Dewey production This Is How We Dewey: 380 Commerce, communications, transport 381 Internal commerce (Domestic trade) 382 International commerce (Foreign trade) 383 Postal communication 384 Communications; Telecommunication 385 Railroad transportation 386 Inland waterway & ferry transportation 387 Water, air, space transportation 388 Transportation; Ground transportation 389 Metrology & standardization Honestly,…
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DDC 370-379: Trigger warning – School
A Teach Me How To Dewey production This Is How We Dewey: A fitting section to happen upon as we approach back-to-school season. It’s a time of year that is bittersweet for me: while I do miss the camaraderie and intellectual rigor of being in school, I don’t miss BSing papers, having to take math,…
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DDC 360-369: A curious case of massive understatement
A Teach Me How To Dewey production This Is How We Dewey: 360 Social services; association 361 General social problems 362 Social welfare problems & services 363 Other social problems & services 364 Criminology 365 Penal & related institutions 366 Association 367 General clubs 368 Insurance 369 Miscellaneous kinds of associations 361 “General social problems”?…
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Notes on Shady Characters
Keith Houston’s 2013 book Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks is like catnip for word nerds. It’s rife with historical trivia about the more uncommon punctuation marks that have littered language history, including the pilcrow (¶), dagger (†), and interrobang (‽). It also provides background on the symbols we…
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DDC 350-359: Battle Cry of Deweydom
A Teach Me How To Dewey production This Is How We Dewey: 350 Public administration 351 Of central governments 352 Of local governments 353 Of U.S. federal & state governments 354 Of specific central governments 355 Military science 356 Foot forces & warfare 357 Mounted forces & warfare 358 Other specialized forces & services 359…