In a lively investigation into the boundaries between popular culture and early-modern science, Sara Schechner presents a case study that challenges the view that rationalism was at odds with popular belief in the development of scientific theories. Schechner Genuth delineates the evolution of people's understanding of comets, showing that until the seventeenth century, all members of society dreaded comets as heaven-sent portents of plague, flood, civil disorder, and other calamities. Although these beliefs became spurned as "vulgar superstitions" by the elite before the end of the century, she shows that they were nonetheless absorbed into the science of Newton and Halley, contributing to their theories in subtle yet profound ways. Schechner weaves together many strands of thought: views of comets as signs and causes of social and physical changes; vigilance toward monsters and prodigies as indicators of God's will; Christian eschatology; scientific interpretations of Scripture; astrological prognostication and political propaganda; and celestial mechanics and astrophysics. This exploration of the interplay between high and low beliefs about nature leads to the conclusion that popular and long-held views of comets as divine signs were not overturned by astronomical discoveries. Indeed, they became part of the foundation on which modern cosmology was built.

This collection centers on the work of Allen Walker Read, an employee of the Dictionary of American English at the University of Chicago in the 1930s. Read's first nine essays pick up themes in Early American English such as the impact of ethnicity on language attitudes, English on both sides of the Atlantic, distinguishing features of American talk, and milestones in the branching of British and American English. Subsequent discussion includes the history of o.k., taboo words (including the history of fuck), and Read's autobiographical account about his development as a linguist, presented in two addresses to the renegade Linguistic Association of Canada and the US, and to the American Dialect Society. Articles are preceded by introductory remarks from the editor, and the volume includes a bibliography of Read's papers. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

The range of topics of bibliographies is unlimited and, since bibliographies are produced for the benefit and use of the reader, the compiler must present whatever data are relevant and organize it in a logical and useful fashion. Also, the work should be presented in a physical format which yields the greatest, most comfortable, and most aesthetic access to the data. The aim of the author and printer of a bibliography, Sidney Berger writes, should be the production of a useful and usable book. While the author must be concerned with the intellectual content and its organization, the book designer must concentrate on the physical elements of which bibliographies are composed--the type style and size, the size of the book, the arrangement of type and blank space on the page, ink color, and the weight, color, and gloss of the paper, etc. The optimum design of a bibliography is essentially the optimum use of typographic elements. This book discusses the basics of book typography and then goes on to describe types and formats of bibliographies. Berger presents brief discussions of the elements of design that bibliography compilers and designers must consider--drawing from many relevant sources to create a generalized conception of the ideal bibliography. This book is a gathering of sound ideas about book design into a convenient volume, with a focus on the particular problems that bibliographies present. It includes appendixes with numerous examples and illustrations. This volume is of great use to book designers, compilers of bibliographies, and publishers who wish to improve or maximize their bibliographical formats.