One of the English language’s most skilled and beloved writers guides us all toward precise, mistake-free usage.

As usual Bill Bryson says it best: “English is a dazzlingly idiosyncratic tongue, full of quirks and irregularities that often seem willfully at odds with logic and common sense. This is a language where ‘cleave’ can mean to cut in half or to hold two halves together; where the simple word ‘set’ has 126 different meanings as a verb, 58 as a noun, and 10 as a participial adjective; where if you can run fast you are moving swiftly, but if you are stuck fast you are not moving at all; [and] where ‘colonel,’ ‘freight,’ ‘once,’ and ‘ache’ are strikingly at odds with their spellings.” As a copy editor for the London Times in the early 1980s, Bill Bryson felt keenly the lack of an easy-to-consult, authoritative guide to avoiding the traps and snares in English, and so he brashly suggested to a publisher that he should write one. Surprisingly, the proposition was accepted, and for “a sum of money carefully gauged not to cause embarrassment or feelings of overworth,” he proceeded to write that book–his first, inaugurating his stellar career.

Now, a decade and a half later, revised, updated, and thoroughly (but not overly) Americanized, it has become Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words, more than ever an essential guide to the wonderfully disordered thing that is the English language. With some one thousand entries, from “a, an” to “zoom,” that feature real-world examples of questionable usage from an international array of publications, and with a helpful glossary and guide to pronunciation, this precise, prescriptive, and–because it is written by Bill Bryson–often witty book belongs on the desk of every person who cares enough about the language not to maul or misuse or distort it.

Modern dictionaries, the kind most people use, are often the result of a ruthless paring away of many glorious words—so that only the standard, functional, current ones remain. A treasure by every lover of language, this volume reclaims past glories of the language, presenting magnificent words that have the scent of generations and societies past.

A witty and entertaining guide to the use of Latin expressions for one's own advantage in the modern world.

With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson—the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent—brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.

We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the internet, in email, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.

This classic work is designed to cover all of the major movements in literary studies during this century. Noted for its clear, engaging style and unpretentious treatment, Literary Theory has become the introduction of choice for anyone interested in learning about the world of contemporary literary thought. The second edition contains a major new survey chapter that addresses developments in cultural theory since the book's original publication in 1983, including feminist theory, postmodernism, and poststructuralism.

Now in paperback, Fredric Jameson’s most wide-ranging work seeks to crystalize a definition of ”postmodernism”. Jameson’s inquiry looks at the postmodern across a wide landscape, from “high” art to “low” from market ideology to architecture, from painting to “punk” film, from video art to literature.

Since first appearing in 1982 this book has been acclaimed as by far the most readable, concise and authoritative text of its kind. While in no way oversimplifying the complexities of the subject, or understating the challenge it presents, Norris's book sets out to make deconstruction more accessible to the open-minded reader. For this revised edition the author has provided a substantial postscript which looks back over the past ten years of critical debate and seeks to correct some prevalent misunderstandings. The volume also contains an updated bibliography - among the most extensive of its kind - giving details of more than two hundred books published during that period. Some critics have dismissed deconstruction as a harmless academic game; others have denounced it as a terrorist weapon or a discourse of last-ditch nihilist unreason. As Norris demonstrates, both responses are equally wide of the mark. Focusing on Derrida's major texts, and offers a detailed commentary on his readings of Plato, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Husserl, Saussure, Levi-Strauss, J.L. Austin and others, this book brings out the extraordinary subtlety and force that have characterized his project from the outset. Norris also examines the work of those North American critics - Paul de Man, Geoffrey Hartman, J. Hillis Miller and Harold Bloom - who in their own prolonged efforts to move beyond the old' New Criticism have variously registered the impact of Derrida's thought.

Since 1985, Apple and Addison-Wesley have been publishing authoritative books about Apple technologies. The Apple Technical Library provides Macintosh developers with the official treatment of all the major new technologies that Apple releases. Timely, accurate, and clear, this collection of books is the essential resource for anyone developing software for the Macintosh. You'll find definitive coverage of the newest and most important technologies, such as QuickDraw 3D and Apple Guide. You'll also find the classic cornerstones of Macintosh development, like Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines, MacsBug Reference and Debugging Guide, and Planning and Managing AppleTalk Networks. Care has been taken to provide the information using the most appropriate medium. From the multimedia presentations of Electronic Guide to Macintosh Human Interface Design to the electronic reference included with Advanced Color Imaging on the Mac OS, the material is presented in the way that allows you to access it most effectively. 0201622165B04062001

A supremely usable nuts-and-bolts guide for beginners. A daily tool of the trade for specialists. Handbook of Usability Testing gives you practical, step-by-step guidelines in plain English. Written by Jeffrey Rubin, it arms beginners with the full complement of proven testing tools and techniques. From software, GUIs, and technical documentation, to medical instruments, VCRs, and exercise bikes, no matter what your product, you'll learn to design and administer extremely reliable tests to ensure that people find it easy and desirable to use.
* Requires no engineering or human factors training
* A rigorous, step-by-step approach—with an eye to common gaffes and pitfalls—saves you months of trial and error
* Liberally peppered with real-life examples and case histories taken from a wide range of industries
* Packed with extremely usable templates, models, tables, test plans, and other indispensable tools of the trade

This textbook introduces the foundations of human-computer interaction, covering basic psychology and computer technology, models and methods for interface design and applications. It can be used as a text for a course in HCI or as the basis for a curriculum in HCI, with sections of it being taken separately for single course units. Later parts of the book cover more advanced material, but no initial knowledge is assumed. The authors have combined a broad, yet detailed look at HCI from a psychological and computer science perspective, which emphasizes the design of interactive systems. The text is supported by worked examples and exercises of varying difficulty and suggested projects.

In this landmark book, Terry Winograd shows how to improve the practice of software design by applying lessons from other areas of design to the creation of software. The goal is to create software that works — really works — because it is both appropriate and effective for the people who use it. The book contains essays contributed by prominent software and design professionals, interviews with experts, and profiles of successful projects and products. These elements are woven together to illuminate what design is, to identify the common core of practices in every design field, and to show how software builders can apply these practices to produce software that is more satisfying for users. The initial chapters view software from the users perspective, featuring the insights of experienced software designers and developers, including Mitchell Kapor, David Liddle, John Rheinfrank, Peter Denning, and John Seely Brown. Subsequent chapters turn to the designer and the design process, with contributions from designers and design experts, including David Kelley, Donald Sch?n, and Donald Norman. Profiles discussing Mosaic, Quicken, Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines, Microsoft Bob, a