A delightfully informative book about letters, their meanings, and the words and meanings we derive from them.
A poet, writer of children’s books and host of BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth tells the history of each letter in our alphabet.
Rosen (Fighters for Life: Selected Poems, 2007, etc.) shows a capacious curiosity and imagination in a work that, in lesser hands, would glaze the eyes of all but the most nerdy language freaks. He proceeds alphabetically (duh) but also in a sort of defiantly digressive way. For each letter, the author provides—in sort of dictionary fashion—some of its history, evolution, pronunciation(s) and, for many, some “sound play” involving the letter. Regarding N, for instance, Rosen mentions “ninny,” “no-no” and “nanny” (among others). These initial pages for each letter are informative and good for reference, but the remainder of each section is even better. For example, for C, he discusses ciphers, the Enigma code and even Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I’s spymaster. For K, he spends some time with Korean and with the recent YouTube phenomenon of “Gangnam Style.” S takes us into signs and symbols, from Morse code to the International Phonetic Alphabet. And Z? ZIP codes. Along the way, we learn about Beowulf, e.e. cummings, George Bernard Shaw’s disdain for the apostrophe, our fondness for initials, a bit about that old song “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” the history of okay, the history of shorthand, why rhyme has an h, Noah Webster and the Urban Dictionary. Rosen also is mellow about “correctness” in usage and punctuation (“Our personal histories and feelings are wrapped up in what the letters and their means of transmission mean to each of us”) and shows little sorrow for the disappearance of handwriting in schools; in fact, he thinks our current emphasis on it doesn’t make much sense.
A delightfully informative book about letters, their meanings, and the words and meanings we derive from them.Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-1619024830
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Counterpoint
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
A neat but overbroad analysis of the current state of Supreme Court confirmation proceedings. Since 1968, when the nomination of Abe Fortas to replace Earl Warren as chief justice was shot down by maverick Republican senators defying a politically impotent LBJ, the confirmation process has become ``disorderly, contentious and unpredictable. In short...thoroughly democratic,'' writes Silverstein (Political Science/Boston Univ.). What made '68 such a turning point in judicial history? A number of factors, which the author untangles with the self-assurance of a skilled classroom lecturer. He argues that in the decade before the Fortas nomination, the Warren Court had jettisoned the jurisprudence of restraint, reinventing the federal judiciary as a haven for ethnic and religious minorities seeking novel forms of relief. This heightened judicial activism lured more politically powerful, upper-middle-class groups (such as consumer advocates and conservationists) into federal courtrooms throughout the US. By 1968, the political winds had shifted, a new breed of senators had assumed power, and Richard Nixon's law-and- order regime was dawning. But the politically potent upper middle class was prepared to lobby against any anti-activist Supreme Court nominee who threatened its access to the courts. Silverstein's depiction of confrontational confirmations as a by-product of judicial activism is suggestive, but he tends to downplay factors that don't fit perfectly into this theory—he covers the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, for example, as if they were nothing but a debate over the separation of powers. And his argument that the modern confirmation process has resulted in uninspiring ``stealth'' nominees such as David Souter and Anthony Kennedy completely fails to explain how a controversial, well-known nominee such as Antonin Scalia can have, in the author's own words, ``sailed through'' the process. Silverstein articulately presents a provocative theory but stretches it beyond its limits.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-393-03692-8
Page Count: 172
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994
An informed, but incomplete, stab at one of civilization’s greatest questions.
Sweeping attempt to explain the existence of God.
Inspired by his brush with death–which he juxtaposes with the actual death of an atheist friend–the author attempts to explain for believers and nonbelievers alike whether God exists. The task is neither new nor easy, and Dwyer calls upon a full range of thinkers and fields of study to build his case. In some ways, he gives strength to his argument through the book’s depth and complexity; in others, the answer, and even the quest for it, is lost in details. Dwyer begins with a lengthy exposition of how humans think and what constitutes consciousness. Comfortable with science, he disputes some absolutist stances. For instance, he takes the author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins, to task, contrasting natural selection with natural law and finds the former wanting. After this deep foray into biology, psychology and evolution, he moves on to philosophical arguments for and against God, drawing from several thinkers: Aquinas, Anselm, Spinoza, Kant, Descartes, among others. Rather convincingly, he shows that while proving a personal God exists might not be possible, disproving his existence may be even more so. Belief in God, therefore, is dependent entirely on faith and imagination and cannot be proven by reason alone. Finally, the author discusses ethics and how society should act if we accept God’s existence. Dwyer’s writing, though sometimes too informal, is accessible enough, but the author has chosen a topic difficult to tackle and impossible to resolve, thus his task is an uphill battle–readers may find it difficult terrain.
An informed, but incomplete, stab at one of civilization’s greatest questions.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-4196-6259-7
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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