Sounds Appealing

It's not what you say, it's the way that you say it ... There have long been debates about 'correct' pronunciation in the English language, and Britain's most distinguished linguistic expert, David Crystal, is here to set the record straight. Sounds Appealing tells us exactly why, and how, we pronounce words as we do. Pronunciation is integral to communication, and is tailored to meet the demands of the two main forces behind language: intelligibility and identity. Equipping his readers with knowledge of phonetics, linguistics and physiology - with examples ranging from Eliza Doolittle to Winston Churchill - David Crystal explores the origins of regional accents, how they are influenced by class and education, and how their peculiarities have changed over time.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Recipes to match every mood, situation, and vibe from the James Beard Award–winning author of Where Cooking Begins ONE OF THE TEN BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: San Francisco Chronicle • ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time Out, Glamour, Taste of Home Great food is an achievable part of every day, no matter how busy you are; the key is to have go-to recipes for every situation and for whatever you have on hand. The recipes in That Sounds So Good are split between weekday and weekend cooking. When time is short, turn to quick stovetop suppers, one-pot meals, and dinner salads. And for the weekend, lean into lazy lunches, simmered stews, and hands-off roasts. Carla’s dishes are as inviting and get-your-attention-good as ever. All the recipes—such as Fat Noodles with Pan-Roasted Mushrooms and Crushed Herb Sauce or Chicken Legs with Warm Spices—come with multiple ingredient swaps and suggestions, so you can make each one your own. That Sounds So Good shows Carla at her effortless best, and shows how you can be, too.

Figures of speech are everywhere. Popstar or postman, president or paperboy, the chances are you've already used a whole heap of them today without realising it. For business writers they're pure gold. They make our words more powerful, persuasive and poetic. They add flavour to dreary standard issue language. They help us get our message across in a way that's immediate and memorable. This book takes fifty of our finest figures and explains how they can help anyone who works with words, regardless of profession, to express themselves with more style and impact. Sounds Good on Paper is essential reading for anyone who writes as part of their job. It's a practical guide to every figure of speech you never knew you knew, including the chiasmus ("You can take the boy out of Essex, but you can't take Essex out of the boy"), tmesis ("abso-blooming-lutley") and kenning ("pencil pusher" or "coffin dodger"). It shows how you can use figures to make your words work harder and pump up your powers of persuasion. If you want to inspire and engage your readers, this book is here to help.

A comprehensive, kid-friendly examination of how sound works. How does sound happen? How do we hear it? What makes some sounds loud and some soft? Some high pitched and some low pitched? How do humans and animals use sound to communicate? Which sounds happen naturally, and which are created for a specific purpose? This charming picture book explores all of these questions in easy-to-understand and child-friendly language, offering a gentle introduction to how sound works. Kids are experts at making noise. Now they’ll want to stop and listen, too!

Sounds Good is a user-friendly guide providing advice on the care and repair of older organs, as well as recommendations on the use of new and second-hand organs. The book also contains helpful sections on dealing with organ builders, finance and contracts. This is an excellent resource for all those who are involved with the care and maintenance of their local church organ.

An interactive introduction to musical instruments with 50 original compositions to listen to—from the kazoo to the bassoon. What does a double bass or a sitar sound like? What's the difference between bongos and congas? Which instrument has only one note? Which one takes just 30 seconds to learn? This book engagingly presents 50 common and uncommon musical instruments with practical and curious facts that will spark interest in music of all kinds. Each instrument features a piece of music composed by an award-winning musician, accessed via QR code. With instruments presented outside conventional categories, the book is open to all ways of listening and learning. Aspects of history, music theory, and culture are lightly mixed with information about how instruments are made and played. Instruments of all sorts include the voice and computer and unusual instruments such as the theremin and vuvuzela, alongside those that are well known. "An incredible resource for teachers and caregivers alike eager to find a child-friendly introduction to sound and music history."—Kirkus Reviews

Music is fundamental to human existence, a cultural universal among all humans for all times. It is embedded in our evolution, encoded in our DNA, which is to say, essential to our survival. Academics in a variety of disciplines have considered this idea to devise explanations that Richard Manning, a lifelong journalist, finds hollow, arcane, incomplete, ivory-towered, and just plain wrong. He approaches the question from a wholly different angle, using his own guitar and banjo as instruments of discovery. In the process, he finds himself dancing in celebration of music rough and rowdy. American roots music is not a product of an elite leisure class, as some academics contend, but of explosive creativity among slaves, hillbillies, field hands, drunks, slackers, and hucksters. Yet these people—poor, working people—built the foundations of jazz, gospel, blues, bluegrass, rock ’n’ roll, and country music, an unparalleled burst of invention. This is the counterfactual to the academics’ story. This is what tells us music is essential, but by pulling this thread, Manning takes us down a long, strange path, following music to deeper understandings of racism, slavery, inequality, meditation, addiction, the science of our brains, and ultimately to an enticing glimpse of pure religion. Use this book to follow where his guitar leads. Ultimately it sings the American body, electric.

Silence Sounds Good offers a refreshing reading experience, combining personalized anecdotes with an impressive understanding of both history and mythology lucidly narrated in a crisp and effective prose. This absorbing collection of essays is an inspiring read. Dr Shashi Tharoor, MP Author, orator Silence Sounds Good is a collection of smart essays with a sprinkling of tell-tale anecdotes, subtle humor and vast erudition. The author has brought in its fold almost everything under the sun, nay the sun itself, and given us a literary treat and a journey through history, literature, mythology and what not. This book is certainly reading and entertainment made easy. As an understanding writer who appreciates the value of the time of the readers, the author has kept the essays refreshingly brief and has successfully tried to hold ‘Infinity in the palm of the hand’ and ‘eternity in an hour’. Silence Sounds Good offers an enticingly relaxing reading experience.