Posted: Oct 16, 2017 11:38 am
1.Thresholds of Peace. German prisoners and the People of Britain. 1944-1948 - Matthew Sullivan
2. Escape from Germany - Aidan Crawley
3. Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Second Language Learning and Teaching - Jeanette Littlemore
4. Food in History - Reay Tannahill
5. The Cyclist Who Went Out In the Cold - Tim Moore
6. Cognitive English Grammar - Günther Radden & René Dirven
7. The Marches: A Borderland Journey Between England and Scotland - Rory Stewart
8. Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe - Gaston Dorren
9. The Blitz: The British Under Attack - Juliet Gardiner
10. Melmoth the Wanderer - Charles Maturin
11. Seeds of Earth - Michael Cobley
12. An Iron Wind: Europe Under Hitler - Peter Fritzsche
13. Speaking our Minds: Why Human communication is Different, and How Language Evolved to make it Special - Thom Scott-Phillips
14. In the Land of Giants: A journey through the Dark Ages - Max Adams
15. Conversational Repair and Human Understanding - Makoto Hayashi, Geoffrey Raymond & Jack Sidnell (Eds.)
16. Indirect Reports and Pragmatics: Interdisciplinary Studies (Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology) - Alessandro Capone (Ed.) (Re-read)
17. Becoming Fluent: How Cognitive Science Can help Adults Learn a Foreign Language - Richard Robers and Roger Kreuz
18. Fecal Matters in Early Modern Literature and Art: Studies in Scatology - Jeff Persels and Russell Ganim (Eds.)
19. Books that Changed the World - Robert B Downs.
20. Um el Madayan: An Islamic City through the Ages - Abderrahman Ayoub, Jamila Binous and Abderrazak Gragueb (Re-read)
21. English Grammar: Your questions answered - Michael McCarthy
22. Look to Windward - Iain M Banks (re-read)
23. War against War - Ernst Friedrich
24. The Story of the Human Body - Daniel Lieberman
25. The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu - Dan Jurafsky
26. Grammars of Space: Explorations in Cognitive Diversity
27. An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain, or...60 Years of making the same mistakes as always - John O'Farrel
28. The Kings of Albion - Julian Rathbone (re-read)
29. The Story of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang
30. The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End - Robert Gerwath
31. Soldier Spy - Tom Marcus
32. Direct and Indirect Speech (Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs) - Florian Coulmas (Ed.)
33. Rethinking Linguistic Relativity (Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language) = John Gumperz & Steven Levinson (Eds.)
34. Is that a Fish in your Ear? The Amazing Adventure of Translation - David Bellos
35. The Voices Within: The History and Science of How we Talk to Ourselves - Charles Fernyhough
36. Dunkirk: The History Behind the Motion Picture - Joshua Levine
37. Alphabetical: How Every Letter tells a Story: Michael Rosen
38. Warsaw Boy: A Memoir of a Wartime Childhood - Andrew Borowiec
No. 38. I've read a fair amount about the Warsaw uprising (and also the Ghetto uprising the previous year) and this was one of the better accounts. The author's post-war career was as a journalist, so he brings a good writing style to the subject at hand. Even though I'm familiar with the battle, the horrors inflicted in the people of Poland in general and Warsaw in particular never fails to shock. The orgy of rape, bloodshed and destruction carried out by the Dirlewanger and Kaminski brigades as they rampaged through the suburbs of Warsaw is close to the nadir of human depravity.
But the author's story is not just a list of massacres.One astonishing incident concerned his evacuation after the surrender. Amazingly the Nazis agreed to treat the Home Army fighters as prisoners of war and they were treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention. As the author was being evacuated (wounded) his hospital train was in a siding during an air raid and another train pulled up alongside. It was a hospital train for wounded Wehrmacht soldiers. The Germans asked the Poles where they were from. They said that they were from the uprising. The German soldiers said that they were too...without rancor or hatred they greeted each other, and some exchanged cigarettes and wished each other good luck before their trains moved off.
Well written and compelling. Not bedtime reading for those prone to nightmares.
2. Escape from Germany - Aidan Crawley
3. Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Second Language Learning and Teaching - Jeanette Littlemore
4. Food in History - Reay Tannahill
5. The Cyclist Who Went Out In the Cold - Tim Moore
6. Cognitive English Grammar - Günther Radden & René Dirven
7. The Marches: A Borderland Journey Between England and Scotland - Rory Stewart
8. Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe - Gaston Dorren
9. The Blitz: The British Under Attack - Juliet Gardiner
10. Melmoth the Wanderer - Charles Maturin
11. Seeds of Earth - Michael Cobley
12. An Iron Wind: Europe Under Hitler - Peter Fritzsche
13. Speaking our Minds: Why Human communication is Different, and How Language Evolved to make it Special - Thom Scott-Phillips
14. In the Land of Giants: A journey through the Dark Ages - Max Adams
15. Conversational Repair and Human Understanding - Makoto Hayashi, Geoffrey Raymond & Jack Sidnell (Eds.)
16. Indirect Reports and Pragmatics: Interdisciplinary Studies (Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology) - Alessandro Capone (Ed.) (Re-read)
17. Becoming Fluent: How Cognitive Science Can help Adults Learn a Foreign Language - Richard Robers and Roger Kreuz
18. Fecal Matters in Early Modern Literature and Art: Studies in Scatology - Jeff Persels and Russell Ganim (Eds.)
19. Books that Changed the World - Robert B Downs.
20. Um el Madayan: An Islamic City through the Ages - Abderrahman Ayoub, Jamila Binous and Abderrazak Gragueb (Re-read)
21. English Grammar: Your questions answered - Michael McCarthy
22. Look to Windward - Iain M Banks (re-read)
23. War against War - Ernst Friedrich
24. The Story of the Human Body - Daniel Lieberman
25. The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu - Dan Jurafsky
26. Grammars of Space: Explorations in Cognitive Diversity
27. An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain, or...60 Years of making the same mistakes as always - John O'Farrel
28. The Kings of Albion - Julian Rathbone (re-read)
29. The Story of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang
30. The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End - Robert Gerwath
31. Soldier Spy - Tom Marcus
32. Direct and Indirect Speech (Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs) - Florian Coulmas (Ed.)
33. Rethinking Linguistic Relativity (Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language) = John Gumperz & Steven Levinson (Eds.)
34. Is that a Fish in your Ear? The Amazing Adventure of Translation - David Bellos
35. The Voices Within: The History and Science of How we Talk to Ourselves - Charles Fernyhough
36. Dunkirk: The History Behind the Motion Picture - Joshua Levine
37. Alphabetical: How Every Letter tells a Story: Michael Rosen
38. Warsaw Boy: A Memoir of a Wartime Childhood - Andrew Borowiec
No. 38. I've read a fair amount about the Warsaw uprising (and also the Ghetto uprising the previous year) and this was one of the better accounts. The author's post-war career was as a journalist, so he brings a good writing style to the subject at hand. Even though I'm familiar with the battle, the horrors inflicted in the people of Poland in general and Warsaw in particular never fails to shock. The orgy of rape, bloodshed and destruction carried out by the Dirlewanger and Kaminski brigades as they rampaged through the suburbs of Warsaw is close to the nadir of human depravity.
But the author's story is not just a list of massacres.One astonishing incident concerned his evacuation after the surrender. Amazingly the Nazis agreed to treat the Home Army fighters as prisoners of war and they were treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention. As the author was being evacuated (wounded) his hospital train was in a siding during an air raid and another train pulled up alongside. It was a hospital train for wounded Wehrmacht soldiers. The Germans asked the Poles where they were from. They said that they were from the uprising. The German soldiers said that they were too...without rancor or hatred they greeted each other, and some exchanged cigarettes and wished each other good luck before their trains moved off.
Well written and compelling. Not bedtime reading for those prone to nightmares.