Audiobooks online: genre "Writing & Linguistics"

Witty, opinionated alphabetical examples of what Bierce considered poor (American) English and advice on alternatives - entertaining, thought-provoking, occasionally outdated but so interesting to see how style and taste have changed. Summary by Philippa....

“The Philosophy of Style,” explored a growing trend of formalist approaches to writing. Highly focused on the proper placement and ordering of the parts of an English sentence, [Spencer] created a guide for effective composition. Spencer’s aim was to free prose writing from as...

This is a very readable scientific account of Swearing and Cursing in the English Language. Not only is an enlightening historical account given, but also several excursions are made into other languages and certain historical periods. - Summary by Carolin...

The author, an avid book collector, calls for the better protection of books against the "enemies" which lead to their physical destruction. In a series of brief chapters, he details the losses caused by raging fire, floods of water, noxious gases, sheer neglect, ignorant bigotry...

This is a collection of 23 essays based on interviews conducted by Joyce Kilmer with some of the most famous authors of the time (1917). Kilmer's idea, as outlined in the Introduction, was that there is a deep divide between those who write literature, and those who write about l...

"It was part of my daily work, for a good many years, to read the principal English newspapers and reviews; it has been part of my work, all the time, to read the more important English novels, essays, poetry and criticism. An American born and bred, I early noted, as everyone el...

A description and history of the development of the English Language and reflections on the influences that changed the language. - Summary by barbara2...

This is the third book of John Locke's Essay on Human Understanding. Book I was Neither Principles Nor Ideas Are Innate. Book II was Of Ideas and Book III is Of Words. Locke is writing about the ideas we have in our minds and the things they are to represent. What does it mean to...

English as She is Spoke is a 19th century Portuguese-to-English phrasebook that has become a classic of absurdist humor, owing chiefly to the apparent fact that its writer had absolutely no knowledge of English. It is thought that for utterly obscure reasons its unknown au...

I address myself to the man or woman of talent—those people who have writing ability, but who need instruction in the manipulation of characters, the formation of plots, and a host of other points with which I shall deal hereafter. Although no school could turn out novelists to o...

Language: we all use it and few of us think about the form it takes on the page. But how did the transmittal of ideas in written form evolve from Egyptian hieroglyphics to the ABCs in use in most countries around the world today? This work, written by a librarian and scholar, dra...

"I am of the company of book men who read simply for the love of it," confesses E. Walter Walters, in this gently written tome. Walters documents his habit of "book fishing--" seeking and finding quality volumes in the discount binds at his booksellers, and as a connoisseur of wi...