How kids learn words

How kids learn words: Are they paying attention to the speaker’s gaze?

Toddlers learn new words at an astonishing rate — an average, according to Steven Pinker, of over a word every two hours. Yet attempts to drill children to improve vocabulary are often frustrating. Kids seem to learn words better through observing the environment than they do by rote. So what exactly are they observing?  Article continues

The Open Library

The Open Library website was created by the Internet Archive to demonstrate a way that books can be represented online.
The vision is to create free web access to important book collections from around the world.Books are scanned and then offered in an easy-to-use interface for free reading online. If they're in the public domain, the books can be downloaded, shared and printed for free. They can also be printed for a nominal fee by a third party, who will bind and mail the book to you. The books are always FREE to read at the Open Library website.
The Internet ArchiveThe Internet Archive offers all media: text, audio, moving images, web content and even software for public use. The content ranges from fantastic to obscure. Please have a look.

American Rhetoric

Online Speech Bank
“Index to and growing database of 5000+ full text, audio and video (streaming) versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events, and a declaration or two.”
The website can be searched by subject, such as Christian rhetoric, movie speeches and 9-11 speeches.  There are  over “200 short audio clips illustrating stylistic figures of speech ranging from alliteration to synecdoche. Clips are taken from speeches, movies, sermons, and sensational media events and delivered by politicians, actors, preachers, athletes, and other notable personalities.”  Check out the “100 most significant American political speeches of the 20th century, according to 137 leading scholars of American public address… Find out who made the cut and experience the power of rhetorical eloquence in this provocative list of "who's who" in American public address.”

and the most demanded out of print book is ...

Thanks Gary and Resourceshelf for this one.  

The list of  Top 10 out of print books of 2005 is headed by …. Of course  ….  Sex  by Madonna.  

Meeting success - set time limits

Consider using time limits to keep discussion under control in your meetings.  You can limit each speaker, or each item of discussion, sections of the meeting, or the whole meeting itself.  At the very least it means that everyone will be aware of time and the need to be concise and focused.

Crime writers denied by literary snobs

Crime writers are denied prizes by literary snobs, says Rankin
His gritty detective novels have sold an estimated 17 million copies worldwide, yet the Scottish writer Ian Rankin believes that "literary snobs" turn up their noses when it comes to crime fiction.  Article continues

Email management

How to write better emails that get the responses you need/want, plushow to deal with your burgeoning inbox.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=4438&t=srobbins

"The death of literature"

Michael Masterton wrote an article about the decline of reading and literature in his ezine Early to Rise #1599 . I had to respond. Obviously his title "The end of Literature" was meant to arouse some response. But the main thrust of his article was to decry the end of reading and books. As a librarian and avid reader these are also thoughts that are uppermost in my mind these days, too. Nevertheless, I have to disagree with Michael. I don't think reading is dying, and literature that we idolised last generation and last century may be dying, but I would prefer to use the word changing. We read, but in different formats and from different sources. Many of us use the internet for information that once we retrieved from books. We develop a sense of community with writers on the internet that once we got from magazines and newspapers. But both of those still involve reading. I still read for pleasure in an archair or in bed - from books and I don't think that is changing much, although I read (there's that word again) that people use their mobile devices and computers to read for pleasure. Those may grow, but the comfort is not there so it will be slow. As for literature... It is changing as it always has done. Sentence structure is changing. Storytelling techniques are changing. And our tastes are changing parallel to those changes in writing style. What is considered current great literature is changing. And yes, oral storytelling evolved into paper based materials so that the stories could be preserved better. And we were glad. Now the preservation/publication styles are changing to be able to tell stories orally but preserve them as well. An entirely different pleasure is involved in listening from the pleasure involved in reading, but it is literature all the same. So Michael, maybe it's change we have to face, and embrace, if we choose, but it is not death - well not of literature and reading.

Guardian first book award

Biography of homeless man wins Guardian First Book Award
Alexander Masters has tonight beaten a strong field to win the £10,000 Guardian First Book Award for Stuart: A Life Backwards, his biography of homeless man Stuart Shorter. Told in reverse, from homelessness, drug addiction and spells in prison back to a horribly abusive childhood, it is, despite its harrowing subject matter, a funny, irreverent read,

HarperCollins goes digital

Company Will Issue RFP for Digital Content Services to Prospective VendorsNew York, NY (December 12, 2005) - HarperCollins Publishers today announced they will create a digital warehouse for all of its content and will issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) this month as part of an effort to develop the necessary technical infrastructure to broadly exploit its content digitally.

Merriam-Webster's Open dictionary

Merriam-Webster's Open Dictionary where you can 1) submit and share entries that aren't already in our Online Dictionary, and 2) browse entries submitted by other members of the Merriam-Webster Online community.

Communication Success Tip

The simplest way to start a conversation is to ask a question. When a simple YES/NO answer of just a few words is sufficient, questions usually begin with ARE, DO, WHO, WHAT, WHEN , WHERE, WHICH. When further elaboration is required, the questions usually begin with: HOW, WHY, IN WHAT WAY, WHAT.

National Poetry Almanac

National Poetry Almanac http://www.poets.org/almanac/ Read something new every day! The almanac offers exciting monthly themes and daily articles about poetry, both its fascinating history and its dynamic present."

eBook Impressions

e-book Impressions

Over 30,000 bestseller fiction and non-fiction e-books