Divided States of America, by Aithal: #BookReview.

345 pages Time Travel/First Contact/Science Fiction. The Galaxy Series Book 3 This is the third in a series. The book is a worthy work, but I found it slow to start. That may be because I haven’t read the previous two. Once the first chapters are done, the story starts to move at a good …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 16: Hart’s Rules for Compositors and Readers

Continuing the description of books on words listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 16 Hart’s Rules for Compositors and Readers: Hardback, 182 pages, plus 7 blanks for notes. It was published by Oxford University Press in 1967; my version is the thirty-ninth edition, reprinted 1984, and I bought it new for …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 15: Fowler’s Modern English Usage

Continuing the description of books on words listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 15. Fowler’s Modern English Usage, subtitled, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage: Hardback, 725 pages, plus 20 blanks for notes. It was published by Oxford University Press in 1926; my version is the second edition, reprinted with corrections …

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Falling Into Crime, by Penny Grubb: #BookReview.

798 pages Thrillers/Private Investigator Mysteries/Murder Fiction This collection of crime novels puts together the first three books in the Annie Raymond series: Like False Money, The Doll Makers, and The Jawbone Gang. For those unfamiliar with the writing of Penny Grubb, I will simply say, ‘You’re missing out on some very good crime writing.’ Having …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 14: English Prepositional Idioms

Continuing the description of books on words in post 1 list, which you’ll find here. Book 14 English Prepositional Idioms: Paperback, 562 pages. It was published by MacMillan Press Ltd in 1967 (yes, really!); my version is the reprint edition from 1978 and I bought it from a second-hand bookseller for £2.50, probably around 1984. …

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What If?, by Randall Munroe: #BookReview.

304 pages Comic Strips/Physical Chemistry/Web Graphics and Animation Subtitled ‘Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions’, this book is as entertaining as it is informative. The author is at pains to inform readers that, although he has a degree in physics, he works as the owner/creator of a webcomic, XKCD, he also warns that he …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 13 Eats, Shoots and Leaves

Continuing the description of books on words in post 1 list, which you’ll find here. Book 13: Eats, Shoots and Leaves: Hardback, 209 pages, including a bibliography. It was published by Profile Books in 2003; my version is that edition and I bought it then for £9.99. You can obtain a used copy for around …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 12 Divided by a Common Language

Continuing the description of books on words in the list from post 1, which you’ll find here. Book 12: Divided by a Common Language Paperback, 248 pages, including an index. It was published by Mayflower Press in 1997; my version is the edition published by Houghton Mifflin Books in 2007, and I bought it for …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 11 Descriptionary: A Thematic Dictionary

Continuing the description of books on words in the list from post 1, which you’ll find here. Book 11: Descriptionary: A Thematic Dictionary Paperback, 560 pages, including a comprehensive index. It was published by Checkmark Books in 1992; my version is the Second Edition, published 2000, and I don’t recall what I paid for it. …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 10 Current English Usage

Continuing the description of books on words in the list from post 1, which you’ll find here. Book 10: Current English Usage by Frederick T. Wood Paperback, 304 pages, including one appendix giving the plurals of common foreign, and some English, words. It was published by the Macmillan Press Ltd in 1962; my version is …

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The Star Protocol, by the Marett Brothers: #BookReview.

318 pages Science Fiction Adventure/Military Science Fiction As flagged by the sub-genres in which this book is listed, it’s a science fiction tale full of action, much of which is military in tone. But it’s also a lot more than that. The story combines ancient history, via an archaeologist and his daughter, with the idea …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 9 Collins English Dictionary

Continuing the description of books on words in the list from post 1, which you’ll find here. Book 9: Collins English Dictionary On with the info. Hardback, 1786 pages, including four appendices; Weights and Measures, Chemical Elements, The Plant Kingdom, and The Animal Kingdom. It was published by HarperCollins in 1979; my version is the …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 8 Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors.

Continuing the description of books on words in the list from post 1, which you’ll find here. Book 8: Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors On with the info. Hardback, 454 pages, including eight appendices covering topics from “Words ending in ‘able’ and ‘ible’” to “Numerals,” via “Metric prefixes” and “Main units of currency”. It …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 7 Brit-Think/Ameri-Think

Continuing the description of books on words in the list given in post 1, which you’ll find here. Book 7: Brit-Think/Ameri-Think (sub-titled – A Transatlantic Survival Guide) On with the info. Paperback, 176 pages. It was published by Harrap Books Ltd in 1986; my version is the 1992 edition and cost £5.95. It’s available in …

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84K, by Claire North: #BookReview.

480 pages Political Fiction/Dystopian/Literary Fiction Not for the faint-hearted. And, definitely not for the perennially depressed. But this is a book that should be read by everyone (I’m conscious of the contradiction). Set in a future UK too close for comfort, it examines the inevitable consequences of unfettered capitalism. The writing style is clever, sometimes …

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