Why Only Us

Author : Robert C. Berwick
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262533499
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.92/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Why Only Us written by Robert C. Berwick and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2017-05-12 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Berwick and Chomsky draw on recent developments in linguistic theory to offer an evolutionary account of language and humans' remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire it. “A loosely connected collection of four essays that will fascinate anyone interested in the extraordinary phenomenon of language.” —New York Review of Books We are born crying, but those cries signal the first stirring of language. Within a year or so, infants master the sound system of their language; a few years after that, they are engaging in conversations. This remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire any human language—“the language faculty”—raises important biological questions about language, including how it has evolved. This book by two distinguished scholars—a computer scientist and a linguist—addresses the enduring question of the evolution of language. Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky explain that until recently the evolutionary question could not be properly posed, because we did not have a clear idea of how to define “language” and therefore what it was that had evolved. But since the Minimalist Program, developed by Chomsky and others, we know the key ingredients of language and can put together an account of the evolution of human language and what distinguishes us from all other animals. Berwick and Chomsky discuss the biolinguistic perspective on language, which views language as a particular object of the biological world; the computational efficiency of language as a system of thought and understanding; the tension between Darwin's idea of gradual change and our contemporary understanding about evolutionary change and language; and evidence from nonhuman animals, in particular vocal learning in songbirds.

Author : Chloe Liese
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 059364235X
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.51/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Only When It's Us written by Chloe Liese and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2023-12-05 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The TikTok sensation, now with new exclusive content! Meet the Bergmans in this enemies-to-lovers new adult romance that tackles the vulnerability of love with humor and heart. From the moment Willa sat next to Ryder in class, she’s made it clear she hates his guts. Her reason is a mystery, but its outcome suits him fine. Willa Sutter is the feisty, tempting chaos he doesn’t need in his quiet, tidy life. She’s the next generation of women’s soccer. Wild hair. Bee-stung lips. And a temper that makes the devil seem friendly. He’ll leverage her hate as long as possible to keep his distance. When Willa asked Ryder to borrow his lecture notes, the silent, surly, mountain man ignored her. Ryder Bergman is an arrogant, infuriating flannel-wearing enigma. Mangy beard. Frayed ball cap that hides his eyes. And a stubborn refusal to acknowledge her existence. But Willa’s never backed down from a challenge. Forced to work together on their final project, Willa and Ryder begin a game of pranks and practical jokes, each determined to come out the champion. But once they catch unexpected feelings, victory begins to mean something else—winning each other’s hearts.

Author : Thomas Geoghegan
Publisher : The New Press
ISBN 13 : 1595588361
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.64/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Only One Thing Can Save Us written by Thomas Geoghegan and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A labor lawyer and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist argues that, even as organized labor seems to be crumbling in the United States, a revived—but different—labor movement is now more relevant than ever in America's increasingly unequal society. 12,500 first printing.

Author : Ralph Nader
Publisher : Seven Stories Press
ISBN 13 : 1609800478
Total Pages : 671 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

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Download or read book "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!" written by Ralph Nader and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 2011-01-04 with total page 671 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the cozy den of the large but modest house in Omaha where he has lived since he started on his first billion, Warren Buffett watched the horrors of Hurricane Katrina unfold on television in early September 2005. . . . On the fourth day, he beheld in disbelief the paralysis of local, state, and federal authorities unable to commence basic operations of rescue and sustenance, not just in New Orleans, but in towns and villages all along the Gulf Coast. . . He knew exactly what he had to do. . ." So begins the vivid fictional account by political activist and bestselling author Ralph Nader that answers the question, "What if?" What if a cadre of superrich individuals tried to become a driving force in America to organize and institutionalize the interests of the citizens of this troubled nation? What if some of America's most powerful individuals decided it was time to fix our government and return the power to the people? What if they focused their power on unionizing Wal-Mart? What if a national political party were formed with the sole purpose of advancing clean elections? What if these seventeen superrich individuals decided to galvanize a movement for alternative forms of energy that will effectively clean up the environment? What if together they took on corporate goliaths and Congress to provide the necessities of life and advance the solutions so long left on the shelf by an avaricious oligarchy? What could happen? This extraordinary story, written by the author who knows the most about citizen action, returns us to the literature of American social movements—to Edward Bellamy, to Upton Sinclair, to John Steinbeck, to Stephen Crane—reminding us in the process that changing the body politic of America starts with imagination.

Author : Santiago Zabala
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231544960
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Why Only Art Can Save Us written by Santiago Zabala and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-05 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The state of emergency, according to thinkers such as Carl Schmidt, Walter Benjamin, and Giorgio Agamben, is at the heart of any theory of politics. But today the problem is not the crises that we do confront, which are often used by governments to legitimize themselves, but the ones that political realism stops us from recognizing as emergencies, from widespread surveillance to climate change to the systemic shocks of neoliberalism. We need a way of disrupting the existing order that can energize radical democratic action rather than reinforcing the status quo. In this provocative book, Santiago Zabala declares that in an age where the greatest emergency is the absence of emergency, only contemporary art’s capacity to alter reality can save us. Why Only Art Can Save Us advances a new aesthetics centered on the nature of the emergency that characterizes the twenty-first century. Zabala draws on Martin Heidegger’s distinction between works of art that rescue us from emergency and those that are rescuers into emergency. The former are a means of cultural politics, conservers of the status quo that conceal emergencies; the latter are disruptive events that thrust us into emergencies. Building on Arthur Danto, Jacques Rancière, and Gianni Vattimo, who made aesthetics more responsive to contemporary art, Zabala argues that works of art are not simply a means of elevating consumerism or contemplating beauty but are points of departure to change the world. Radical artists create works that disclose and demand active intervention in ongoing crises. Interpreting works of art that aim to propel us into absent emergencies, Zabala shows how art’s ability to create new realities is fundamental to the politics of radical democracy in the state of emergency that is the present.

Author : Isaac Butler
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1635571774
Total Pages : 465 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The World Only Spins Forward written by Isaac Butler and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2018-02-13 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Marvelous . . . A vital book about how to make political art that offers lasting solace in times of great trouble, and wisdom to audiences in the years that follow."- Washington Post NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR A STONEWALL BOOK AWARDS HONOR BOOK The oral history of Angels in America, as told by the artists who created it and the audiences forever changed by it--a moving account of the AIDS era, essential queer history, and an exuberant backstage tale. When Tony Kushner's Angels in America hit Broadway in 1993, it won the Pulitzer Prize, swept the Tonys, launched a score of major careers, and changed the way gay lives were represented in popular culture. Mike Nichols's 2003 HBO adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, and Mary-Louise Parker was itself a tour de force, winning Golden Globes and eleven Emmys, and introducing the play to an even wider public. This generation-defining classic continues to shock, move, and inspire viewers worldwide. Now, on the 25th anniversary of that Broadway premiere, Isaac Butler and Dan Kois offer the definitive account of Angels in America in the most fitting way possible: through oral history, the vibrant conversation and debate of actors (including Streep, Parker, Nathan Lane, and Jeffrey Wright), directors, producers, crew, and Kushner himself. Their intimate storytelling reveals the on- and offstage turmoil of the play's birth--a hard-won miracle beset by artistic roadblocks, technical disasters, and disputes both legal and creative. And historians and critics help to situate the play in the arc of American culture, from the staunch activism of the AIDS crisis through civil rights triumphs to our current era, whose politics are a dark echo of the Reagan '80s. Expanded from a popular Slate cover story and built from nearly 250 interviews, The World Only Spins Forward is both a rollicking theater saga and an uplifting testament to one of the great works of American art of the past century, from its gritty San Francisco premiere to its starry, much-anticipated Broadway revival in 2018.

Author : Michele Young-Stone
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451657676
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Above Us Only Sky written by Michele Young-Stone and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-03-03 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seeking her place in the world, sixteen-year-old Prudence Eleanor Vilkas, who was born with a pair of wings molded to her back, which were surgically removed, discovers a miraculous lineage of women who were all connected by the gift of wings.

Author : Vanessa Zoltan
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0593538498
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Praying with Jane Eyre written by Vanessa Zoltan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-07-05 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “In these soaring, open-hearted essays, Vanessa Zoltan writes with fierce brilliance about suffering, survival, and the kind of meaning in life that can withstand real scrutiny.”—John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars and The Anthropocene Reviewed A deeply felt exploration of the ways our favorite books can shape and heal us, from the host of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. Our favorite reads keep us company, give us hope, and help us find meaning in a chaotic world. In this fresh and relatable work, atheist chaplain Vanessa Zoltan blends memoir and personal growth as she grapples with the notions of family legacy and identity through the lens of her favorite novel, Jane Eyre. Informed by her training at the Harvard Divinity School and filtered through the pages of Jane Eyre as well as Little Women, Harry Potter, and The Great Gatsby, Zoltan explores topics ranging from the trauma she has inherited as the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors to finding hope, meaning, and even magic in our deeply fractured times. Brimming with a love of classic literature and the tenderness of self-reflection, the book also reveals simple techniques for reading any work as a sacred text--from Virginia Woolf to Anne of Green Gables to baseball scorecards. Whether you're an avowed "Eyrehead" or a voracious reader and pop culture fan, this deeply felt and inspiring book will light the way to a more intimate appreciation for whatever books you love to read.

Author : Susan Mallery
Publisher : HQN Books
ISBN 13 : 1426834101
Total Pages : 70 pages
Book Rating : 4.03/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Only Us: A Fool's Gold Holiday written by Susan Mallery and published by HQN Books. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fool’s Gold, California, a charming small town that’s short on men, has captured thousands of readers’ hearts in Susan Mallery’s New York Times bestselling series. Fall in love with Fool’s Gold’s beloved characters and heartwarming romance in Only Us: A Fool’s Gold Holiday novella! Pet groomer Carina Fiore wants nothing more than to confess her feelings to the man she loves. She’s drawn to veterinarian Cameron McKenzie’s good looks, caring nature and especially his devotion to his young daughter. But he’s also her boss and a good friend. Putting her heart on the line could cost Rina both her job and their friendship forever. Since his divorce, Cameron hasn’t been willing to trust his heart—or his daughter—with anyone else. For months he’s pushed away all thoughts of taking Rina in his arms and kissing her, unwilling to risk their friendship for a single night of pleasure. But when a kiss under the mistletoe unlocks the simmering passion between them, Rina and Cameron may just find love for the holidays after all…. Don’t miss the latest title, A Fool’s Gold Christmas, book 10 of the Fool’s Gold series.

Author : Kenneth Raymond Miller
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 9780670018833
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.3X/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Only a Theory written by Kenneth Raymond Miller and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evaluates the debate between advocates for evolution and intelligent design which occured during the 2005 Dover evolution trial, dissecting the claims of the intelligent design movement and explaining why the conflict is compromising America's position a