For this year’s holiday book recommendations, Grant goes with his son’s current favorite, Valley Cats by Gretchen Preston, while Martha enthusiastically recommends Quack This Way, a transcribed conversation about writing and language...
Grant offers of a list of children’s books he’s been enjoying with his six-year-old son: Yotsuba&!, the energetic, curious Manga character; Pippi Longstocking; Calvin and Hobbes; the mad scientist Franny K. Stein; and the venerable...
Grant has two great children’s books to recommend: The Three Pigs by David Wiesner, a meta-narrative based on the classic title characters, and Elephant Wish, a touching cross-generational story by Lou Berger, the head writer of Sesame Street...
No single established term fits exactly for the feel of saying a word apart from its meaning, though mouthfeel comes close. Tracy from Dallas, Texas, likes the way suitcase moves in the mouth but not rural, a contrast akin to how wine tasters talk...
There’s a story going around about a 19th Century priest named Giuseppe Mezzofanti who claimed to speak forty to fifty languages. Hyperpolyglots, or those who speak six or more languages fluently, offer some key insights into learnings...
Grant and Martha have summer reading suggestions. Grant’s going through books by great women in show business — Tallulah Bankhead, Mindy Kaling, and Tina Fey. Martha finally got a Kindle, and is starting with Herman Melville’s classic...