“It takes true brilliance to lift the arid tellings of lexicographic fussing into the readable realm of the thriller and the bodice-ripper….David Skinner has done precisely this, taking a fine story and honing it to popular perfection.” —Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman
The Story of Ain’t by David Skinner is the captivating true chronicle of the creation of Merriam Webster’s Third New International Dictionary in 1961, the most controversial dictionary ever published. Skinner’s surprising and engaging, erudite and witty account will enthrall fans of Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman and The Meaning of Everything, and The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs, as it explores a culture in transition and the brilliant, colorful individuals behind it. The Story of Ain’t is a smart, often outrageous, and altogether remarkable tale of how egos, infighting, and controversy shaped one of America’s most authoritative language texts, sparking a furious language debate that the late, great author David Foster Wallace (Infinite Jest) once called “the Fort Sumter of the Usage Wars.”

The Story of Ain't: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published

Literature & Fiction

Skinner, David

History & Criticism

Harper

Harper-perennial

Harper Large Print

Christe Jesu, pastor bone (Tudor Church Music)

Arts & Photography

Music

Oxford University Press Music

Mass Communication in Canada examines the past, present, and future of mass communication and its effects on society. The book investigates all media from print media, film, radio, and television, to digital media such as the internet and e-mail, providing a framework for understanding the rapidly changing field of mass communication. Themes include media theories, the mass media, media culture and politics, media content, media and audiences, law and policy, the structure and role of media ownership, journalists as content producers, technology and current issues, and globalization.

Mass Communication in Canada

Politics & Social Sciences

Lorimer, Rowland

Gasher, Mike

Social Sciences

Oxford University Press

The Physics of Quantum Mechanics aims to give students a good understanding of how quantum mechanics describes the material world. It shows that the theory follows naturally from the use of probability amplitudes to derive probabilities. It stresses that stationary states are unphysical mathematical abstractions that enable us to solve the theory's governing equation, the time-dependent Schroedinger equation. Every opportunity is taken to illustrate the emergence of the familiar classical, dynamical world through the quantum interference of stationary states. The text stresses the continuity between the quantum world and the classical world, which is merely an approximation to the quantum world. The connections between observables, operators and transformations are clearly explained and the standard commutation rules derived from the properties of spacetime. A chapter is devoted to entanglement, quantum computation, density operators and their role in thermodynamics, and the measurement problem. Scattering phenomena, including the origin of radioactivity, are handled early on in the accessible context of one dimension, and at the end of the book with some rigour in three dimensions. Hydrogen and helium are discussed in some detail and it is shown that quantum mechanics enables us to understand the structure of the periodic table without engaging with the complexities of many-electron atoms. Dirac notation is used from the outset and students are trained to move easily from one representation to another, choosing whichever representation is best suited to a particular problem. The mathematical prerequisites are no more than simple vector algebra, Taylor series expansion and the use of integrating factors to solve linear first order differential equations. Rigorous algebraic methods are preferred to the solution of partial differential equations. To request a copy of the Solutions Manual, visit: http://global.oup.com/uk/academic/physics/admin/solutions

The Physics of Quantum Mechanics

Science & Math

Binney, James

Physics

Valuing Technology: Organisations Culture and Change

Computers & Technology

Taylor & Francis, Inc.

Introductory Sociology is one of the most ambitious, scholarly and popular textbooks in its field. This welcome new edition builds on the strengths of its predecessor in its thematic coherence, clarity of exposition and analytical depth. It is carefully structured to cover all the main substantive topics studied at an introductory level within a framework that engages with exciting contemporary debates about modernity, globalisation and social identity. Key features of the new edition include: - a completely new chapter on the media - extended coverage of social divisions to include disability, youth and old age as well as class, gender and race - clearer and more compact treatment of social theory, incorporating discussion of work by such contemporary theorists as Habermas, Giddens and Beck - an even stronger blend of theoretical, empirical and illustrative material, consolidating the critical and applied approach that is one of the text's most well-liked defining features With outstanding presentation and pedagogical support for the student and hard-pressed lecturer alike, the text includes: - an Instructor's Resource Pack, complete with powerpoint slides, available on the Palgrave website (or in hardcopy for adopters of the textbook, by written request) - a detailed and extensive glossary - practically a 'mini dictionary' of sociology in its own right and an ideal reference tool - chapter-specific further reading lists, annotated for further guidance and support - questions to think about, which can be used as the basis for essays, class discussion and further study - pictures, figures, graphs and tables.

Introductory Sociology: Fourth Edition

Lawson, Tony

WEBSTER, Andrew

Bilton, Tony

Bonnett, Kevin

Stanworth, Michelle

Jones, Pip.

Red Globe Press

How does new information technology become part of the fabric of organisational life? Drawing on insights from social studies of technology, gender studies and the sociology of consumption, Valuing Technology opens up new directions in the analysis of sociotechnical change within organisations. Based on a major research project focused upon the introduction of management of information systems in health, higher education and retailing, I explores the active role of end-users in innovation.This book argues that it is through the , often difficult, engagement between users and technology that new computer systems come to gain value within organisations. Key themes developed through analysis of case studies include:*the valuing of technology via the on-going construction of needs, uses and utilities*occupational identities, organisational inequalities and technological change*the gendering of technological and organisational change*interpretive flexibility and the 'stabilisation' of technological systems and their incorporation into the lives of people in organisations.A stimulating blend of the theoretical and substantive, this book demands a radical redefinition of 'technology acquisition'. It's highly original approach makes Valuing Technology essential reading for students, lecturers and researchers within the fields of organisation studies and the sociology of technology.

Valuing Technology: Organisations, Culture and Change (The Management of Technology and Innovation)

Business & Money

Rosen, Paul

McLaughlin, Janice

Management & Leadership

Routledge

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