It’s Book Recommendation Time! Martha’s makes an enthusiastic case for The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World (Bookshop|Amazon). It’s historian Andrea Wulf’s biography of the polymath, adventurer, and naturalist whose fame throughout Europe in his day was second only to that of Napoleon Bonaparte. Humboldt’s revolutionary ideas about nature and the effects of human activity on climate helped form the basis of modern environmentalism. Wulf has also collaborated with artist Lillian Melcher on a graphic work of non-fiction on this topic called The Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt. (Bookshop|Amazon) Grant recommends Adam Rutherford’s A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes (Bookshop|Amazon), which explains how the study of DNA is rewriting our understanding of human history, with profound implications for, among other things, the study of historical linguistics. This is part of a complete episode.
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...
Subscribe to the fantastic A Way with Words newsletter!
Martha and Grant send occasional messages with language headlines, event announcements, linguistic tidbits, and episode reminders. It’s a great way to stay in touch with what’s happening with the show.
