[…] it would seem natural to assume that the disciplines of literary studies and linguistics should by rights converge regularly to exchange views as each pursues its own goals. Is such a convergence possible on the question of sense and nonsense? James W. Underhill (this volume) The contributors to the present volume have focused their attention on two sets of problems that are leitmotifs in all the articles gathered. Firstly, should literary semantics – the linguistic study of texts/discourses marked with the feature of ‘literariness’ and ‘poeticalness’ – strive after an interpretation of all such texts at all costs? Are all literary texts interpretable? How do we cope with such troublesome linguistic phenomena as anomaly, deviance, and absurdity? Aren’t we, by any chance, fascinated by nonsense? Do we try to make it at least partly meaningful? Is interpretability our default value? The introductory article by the renowned scholar Margaret H. Freeman is an important voice, indeed a manifesto of sorts of literary semanticists in this respect. Secondly, while trying to answer all these questions, well aware of the fact that literary semantics is a fuzzy branch of linguistic studies, we have attempted at exploring its borderline zone to see to what extent we have to draw from various theoretical sources. Literary semanticists have often proved that they are capable of arguing contrastively in the atmosphere of openness to such neighbouring fields as: discourse analysis, literary pragmatics and reader-response theories, narratology, literary semiotics and hermeneutics, translation studies and – very importantly – the philosophy of language. The authors contributing to this book, an international company of regularly cooperating linguists and literary scholars, strike a nice balance between the cognitive and the more traditionally or philosophically-oriented frameworks of study, being a vivid proof that cognitive and other “denominations” are perfectly capable of fruitful coexistence. The volume ends with a short presentation by Radosław Nowakowski, already known to academic and artistic audiences in Europe as a creator and propagator of liberature – the art of unusual bookmaking, the art of the book liberated from our traditional preconceptions. We hope that our volume will be of interest to academics and students of literary theory and linguistics alike, especially those involved in literary semantics, stylistics and poetics. Naturally, the book is also addressed to members and sympathizers of IALS (International Association of Literary Semantics) and the readers of Journal of Literary Semantics, scattered across the world.

Dale Grant is semi-retired with a little time on his hands. He has shared some of his thoughts in regard to issues that are both universal and current in ways that are sometimes humorous, sometimes satirical and always amusing. His vehicle for accomplishing this is a work of fiction in which the main character is a burglar named Nester Lincoln. Nester is a Harvard student who intends to apply to medical school. The reason that Nester wants to become a doctor is because he is sure that as a doctor it will be easier for him to steal from people than it is by committing burglaries. Nester believes in no one, confides in no one and trusts no one. He has little respect for anything. He thinks that if he is careful and relies on no one he will always be successful. As the story proceeds, however, Nester becomes the target not only of law enforcement, but of a powerful element of organized crime; and possibly one of his college roommates. Why the roommate? Because Nester is sleeping with his mother. Uncertainty abounds as a result of the confusion that occurs and the nonsense that is interspersed throughout during the interactions among the numerous interesting characters who appear in the story.

Paul Clements took to the road in search of the county tops, armed with his own rules of the road, 'Forsake all 21st century Celtic superhighways in favour of boreens'. Faced with leave he couldn't afford, Paul travelled the GMRs (Great Mountain Roads), exploring remote corners of little known counties, some very flat, and spent time with the eccentric and the quaint. Meet Cathy Rea who can see, and even smell, fairies! Listen to tales of druids, banshees, highwaymen and loose women. And learn how a poet stops Errigal's ego from deflating. P.S. Paul found only 28 tops!

Tells the story so far, looking at the origins of the desease, the way it spreads, and examining the profits made by drug companies, women's special vulnerability, and the positive action being taken by people and communities to fight back. [back cover].

Recent polls suggest that fewer than 40 percent of Americans believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, despite it being one of science’s best-established findings. More and more parents are refusing to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link can been consistently disproved. And about 40 percent of Americans believe that the threat of global warming is exaggerated, despite near consensus in the scientific community that manmade climate change is real. Why do people believe bunk? And what causes them to embrace such pseudoscientific beliefs and practices? Noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in this entertaining exploration of the nature of science, the borderlands of fringe science, and—borrowing a famous phrase from philosopher Jeremy Bentham—the nonsense on stilts. Presenting case studies on a number of controversial topics, Pigliucci cuts through the ambiguity surrounding science to look more closely at how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society. The result is in many ways a “taxonomy of bunk” that explores the intersection of science and culture at large. No one—not the public intellectuals in the culture wars between defenders and detractors of science nor the believers of pseudoscience themselves—is spared Pigliucci’s incisive analysis. In the end, Nonsense on Stilts is a timely reminder of the need to maintain a line between expertise and assumption. Broad in scope and implication, it is also ultimately a captivating guide for the intelligent citizen who wishes to make up her own mind while navigating the perilous debates that will affect the future of our planet.

"World music" is an awkward phrase. Used to describe the hugely multifaceted nature of a range of typically non-English-language popular music from the world over, it's a tag that throws up as many problems as it does solutions. Louise Gray's The No-Nonsense Guide to World Music attempts to go behind the phrase to explore the reasons for the contemporary interest in world music, who listens to it, and why. Through chapters that focus on specific areas of music, such as rembetika, fado, trance music, and new folk, Gray explores the genres that have emerged from marginalized communities, music in conflict zones, and music as escapism. In this unique guide, which combines the seduction of sound with politics and social issues, the author makes the case for music as a powerful tool able to bring individuals together. Louise Gray is a writer and editor whose work on music and performing arts has appeared in the New Internationalist, The Wire, The Independent on Sunday, the Guardian, and Art Review. She co-edited Sound and the City (British Council, 2007), a book exploring the changing soundworld of China.

An in-depth look at two decades of a movement that aims to challenge the ethical foundations of the global market. Transnational corporations look for the cheapest suppliers, while the fair trade movement insists on a premium for the producers at the start of the chain. Sally Blundell uncovers the origins of fair trade and what it is likely to become.

How much has life really changed for women during the last decade? Has the womens movement affected women all over the world? Has it changed womens relationships with men? Nikki van der Gaag answers these questions with hard, sometimes disturbing, evidence. Many women have made huge leaps forwardin legal rights, political representation, employment, education, healthbut beneath the surface the statistics are shocking. Vivid testimonies from women and men around the world explain why, especially in this post-feminist age, womens rights are still very much an issue for men and women alike. "She has made a special effort to correct many of the misconceptions and biases related to the feminist movement, to link the liberation of women who constitute half of society to the liberation of men and to the dispossessed majority living on earth." from the introduction by Nawal El Saadawi

This volume focuses on the abuse of statistical inference in scientific and statistical literature, as well as in a variety of other sources, presenting examples of misused statistics to show that many scientists and statisticians are unaware of, or unwilling to challenge the chaotic state of statistical practices.;The book: provides examples of ubiquitous statistical tests taken from the biomedical and behavioural sciences, economics and the statistical literature; discusses conflicting views of randomization, emphasizing certain aspects of induction and epistemology; reveals fallacious practices in statistical causal inference, stressing the misuse of regression models and time-series analysis as instant formulas to draw causal relationships; treats constructive uses of statistics, such as a modern version of Fisher's puzzle, Bayesian analysis, Shewhart control chart, descriptive statistics, chi-square test, nonlinear modeling, spectral estimation and Markov processes in quality control.

In The Sound of Nonsense, Richard Elliott highlights the importance of sound in understanding the 'nonsense' of writers such as Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, James Joyce and Mervyn Peake, before connecting this noisy writing to works which engage more directly with sound, including sound poetry, experimental music and pop. By emphasising sonic factors, Elliott makes new and fascinating connections between a wide range of artistic examples to ultimately build a case for the importance of sound in creating, maintaining and disrupting meaning.