At 25, he picked up Finnegans Wake and tried to read it. He did not get far. He was stopped by a 100-letter word in the middle of the first page. How do you read a 100-letter word, he wondered? “But I’m in music school at the time, practicing the piano every day, and I realize the only way to read a 100-letter word is to practice it like I practice the piano. – The Stranger
Category: words
Where Are The World’s Best Non-Native English Speakers?
According to a new report from an international education company that tested 2.3 million volunteers in 100 countries, the level of English as a second language is highest in Northern Europe, Singapore, and South Africa and lowest in the Arab world and parts of Asia. – The Economist
The Man Who Brought Chinese Science Fiction To America And Made It A Hit
“The success of The Three-Body Problem” — the first translated novel to win a Hugo Award — “not only turned [author] Liu Cixin into a global literary star; it opened the floodgates for new translations of Chinese science fiction. This, in turn, has made Ken Liu a critical conduit for Chinese writers seeking Western audiences, a literary brand as sought-after as the best-selling authors he translates.” – The New York Times Magazine
264 Episodes, Decades Of Reruns, And 50 Spin-Off Novels — Why ‘Murder, She Wrote’ Endures
Sure, it’s because of Jessica Fletcher, both an independent woman and a nice old lady who fights crime with a sharp eye instead of a gun. And the TV scripts were solid. Yet, observes Jon Land (who wrote that 50th novel), what made the franchise different from earlier crime series was the setting of Cabot Cove, Maine, “the kind of cozy place where nothing bad ever should happen, but always seems to.” – CrimeReads
Letter From The Future: Stories In A Post-Print World
It strikes me as strange to mourn a format, particularly when the new format has made storytelling more accessible and widespread than ever before. Virtual reality transcends literacy, language, ability and geography; it’s collaborative and adaptive and inherently empathetic, permitting us to walk any number of digital miles in someone else’s shoes; it’s even affordable, thanks to the team of rogue librarians behind @AlexandriaRising, who created the sliding-scale pricing system. – The New York Times
‘Existential’ Is Dictionary.com’s 2019 Word Of The Year
The site’s editors wrote that the word “captures a sense of grappling with the survival — literally and figuratively — of our planet, our loved ones, our ways of life. … But, existential also inspires us to ask big questions about who we are and what our purpose is in the face of our various challenges.” (The runner-up: nonbinary.) – CNN
Two Members Of Nobel Prize For Literature Committee Resign, One Because Of Award To Peter Handke
“Author Kristoffer Leandoer said he was leaving because he had ‘neither the patience nor the time’ to wait for the committee to complete its reforms” called for after the scandal that led to the postponement of last year’s award to this year. He said that his resignation had nothing to do with the very controversial choice for this year’s prize of Peter Handke, but the other departing member, Gun-Britt Sundström, said her decision was for just that reason. – Reuters
Some Schools Used Science To Change The Way They Taught Reading. So Why Hasn’t It Caught On?
Danville’s method relies on new reading science. It has roots in an old way of teaching but is based on new cognitive neuroscience research that has revealed how brains process sounds and symbols. It borrows from linguistics, the study of language and its structure. Students do not memorize lists of words for spelling tests, yet the average Danville fourth grader is spelling at the sixth-grade level. – Seattle Times
Apostrophe Society Shuts Down, Blames “Ignorance And Laziness”
Retired journalist John Richards, 96, started the Apostrophe Protection Society in 2001 to make sure the “much-abused” punctuation mark was being used correctly. “We, and our many supporters worldwide, have done our best but the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won.” – London Evening Standard
Greta Thunberg’s Book Wins A British Bookseller Award
The book, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, is a collection of the Swedish teenager’s speeches. Waterstone’s said Thunberg, its author of the year, “had an ‘urgent message.'” – BBC