Understanding Body Language by Scott Rouse

Understanding Body Language
by Scott Rouse

ISBN-13: 9781647390983
Paperback: 172 pages
Publisher: Rockridge Press
Released: January 5th 2021

Source: Review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Scientific studies show that people use body language to express their true feelings about a given situation or topic. With Understanding Body Language, you’ll discover essential information and how-to guidance for deciphering nonverbal communication so you can make better decisions about the people and situations you approach every day.

Start by learning how to properly observe people so you can uncover their subtle nonverbal cues without drawing attention to yourself. Then, practice on your friends and family with practical advice to help you better read social gatherings and telltale signs of disagreement. Finally, dive deeper with real-life scenarios you’ll likely encounter, such as dating, job interviews, and workplace interactions.

Explore the science and driving forces behind body language, best practices for your own expression, and tips for successful interpretation of others. Learn setting-specific how-tos to help you feel physically assured in difficult situations, such as using positive body language while on a date and projecting confidence within the workplace. Discover the link between specific emotions and the associated body language so you can apply that vital knowledge in real time and use it to your advantage.


My Review:
Understanding Body Language is a guide to understanding what body language means, with examples of common body language cues as seen in specific circumstances. For example, the author took a situation like a date and broke down some common body language cues and what they mean. There's a drawn picture showing people using this body language to help show what it looks like. He described what the body language looks like, what it (probably) means in that situation, and how to use that information in how you approach that person. The author started by pointing out body language commonly seen in situations like news reports or talkshow hosts, then he talked about social gatherings, signs of disagreement, a date, a job interview, and situations at the workplace. The author also talked about when body language might be different due to a different cultural background or other reasons. Overall, I'd recommend this book, especially to someone who doesn't feel confident around other people. I'm comfortable in social situations and I knew many of the body language signals and what they meant, but I did learn some new ones.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities by Paul Anthony Jones

The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities by Paul Anthony Jones ISBN-13: 9780226646701 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: University of Chicago Press Released: Oct. 7, 2019

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Open The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities and you’ll find both a word and a day to remember, every day of the year. Each day has its own dedicated entry, on which a curious or notable event—and an equally curious or notable word—are explored. So whatever date this book has found its way into your hands, there’s an entire year’s worth of linguistic curiosities waiting to be found.

On the day on which flirting was banned in New York City, for instance, you’ll discover why to “sheep’s-eye” someone once meant to look at them amorously. On the day on which a disillusioned San Franciscan declared himself Emperor of the United States, you’ll find the word “mamamouchi,” a term for people who consider themselves more important than they truly are. And on the day on which George Frideric Handel completed his 259-page Messiah after twenty-four days of frenzied work, you’ll see why a French loanword, literally meaning “a small wooden barrow,” is used to refer to an intense period of work undertaken to meet a deadline.


My Review:
The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities is a fun, year-long book of word and history trivia. Each day of the year has an entry, and every entry contains an unusual word along with an event that happened on that day in history which illustrates the word's meaning. So for each day of the year, there's a word and it's meaning and some history of that word--like it's first known use and how the meaning has changed with time. Often the author also included some other words with the same root. Then there's a summary of what happened during the tied-in historical event for that day. The historical events and words come from the Middle Ages up to modern times. The words are no longer in use, though similar words may be still in use.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

Get Coding 2! by David Whitney

Get Coding 2! by David Whitney ISBN-13: 9781536210309 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Candlewick Press Released: September 24, 2019

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
Learn HTML and JavaScript. Design and build five interactive computer games. Create cool graphics. Code simple artificial intelligence. This appealing guide, covering essential coding concepts, offers an ideal introduction to all these activities and more. By following simple step-by-step instructions and completing five exciting missions, aspiring programmers are invited to code well-known games such as tic-tac-toe and table tennis, then customize their projects to test their skills.


My Review:
Get Coding 2! teaches teens (and adults) how to use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to code five different old-style games: tick-tack-toe, snake, table tennis, an endless runner, and a side-scrolling platform game. The author teaches coding by breaking down the steps needed to create each game. He explained what game element you want to add next to create the game, how you can code that, and how that coding element works. He then walked you through adding each chunk of code to the html file (with the exact code provided) until you have a completed game.

By the end of each game, you've learned some new coding skills and other ways to use previously learned skills. You learn how to create 2D graphics, use object literals and arrays, make the game tick, process keyboard input, add moving or changing game elements, and more. By the end, you should understand enough to be able to modify the code to create variations of the game. However, I don't think the explanations were thorough enough that you could then code a completely new game from a blank text file by yourself. Still, this is a fun way to start learning for a beginner!


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.

Noah Webster by Catherine Reef

Noah Webster: Man of Many Words by Catherine Reef ISBN-13: 9780544129832 Hardback: 224 pages Publisher: Clarion Books Released: August 25, 2015

Source: ARC from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

Book Description from Amazon:
Noah Webster may be best remembered the enormous and ambitious task of writing his famous dictionary, but for him, this accomplishment was a means to an end. His true goal was to streamline the language spoken in our newly formed country so that it could be used as a force to bring people together and be a source of national pride. Though people laughed at his ideas, Webster never doubted himself. In the end, his so-called foolish notions achieved just what he had hoped.

Here, in the only account of Noah Webster for teens, the seasoned biographer Catherine Reef guides us through Webster's remarkable life, from boyhood on a Connecticut farm through the fight for American independence to his days as a writer and political activist who greatly influenced our Founding Fathers and the direction of the young United States.


My Review:
Noah Webster is a biography of Noah Webster for teenagers. The author told about Noah Webster's life, but she also explained enough about what was going on at the time that someone unfamiliar with it can understand how Webster's actions met a need and impacted the country.

Webster had political opinions and tried to influence people to support a strong Federal government through his writings. But he also loved words, and he wrote educational material (a speller, reader, etc.) before he wrote a dictionary. It was interesting to learn the political and social backdrop behind things we take for granted today, like how spellings differ between American and British English.

There were some illustrations of people, events, and books mentioned in the text. The book moved quickly and kept things interesting, which should appeal to teens. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting biography to those interested in history and words.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner

Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner ISBN-13: 9780385348119 Trade Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Harmony Released: August 5, 2014

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
For those who’ve despaired of ever learning a foreign language, here, finally, is a book that will make the words stick.

The greatest challenge to learning a foreign language is the challenge of memory; there are just too many words and too many rules. For every new word we learn, we seem to forget two old ones, and as a result, fluency can seem out of reach. Fluent Forever tackles this challenge head-on. With empathy for the language-challenged and abundant humor, Wyner deconstructs the learning process, revealing how to build a foreign language in your mind from the ground up.

Starting with pronunciation, you’ll learn how to rewire your ears and turn foreign sounds into familiar sounds. You'll retrain your tongue to produce those sounds accurately, using tricks from opera singers and actors. Next, you'll begin to tackle words, and connect sounds and spellings to imagery, rather than translations, which will enable you to think in a foreign language. And with the help of sophisticated spaced-repetition techniques, you'll be able to memorize hundreds of words a month in minutes every day. Soon, you'll gain the ability to learn grammar and more difficult abstract words--without the tedious drills and exercises of language classes and grammar books.


My Review:
Fluent Forever is a book on how people make lasting memories and how to use that information to quickly learn (and remember) the language of your choice. Don't throw out those grammar books and pronunciation guides, but put them to better work by using the latest research into how we make memories and how to make them endure. The research information can be used to remember anything more easily.

The rest of the book discussed how to apply the research to learning languages quickly: remembering new words and even grammar rules without getting bored or confused, how to learn words with a local (rather than American) accent, and how to become fluent in that language.

The author has a nice sense of humor and such an enthusiasm for the subject that reading the book was a lot of fun as well as interesting. Also, he pointed out free online tools (or alternative offline methods) to help you learn your chosen language effectively and then teaches you how to use those tools. It was very easy for me to understand and follow his instructions.

I learned Spanish back in high school and periodically try to re-learn it. It's probably been a good refresher exercise, but I usually get bored with it and so leave off when I get busy with other things. I've started following his system to (re)learn Spanish, and it's a lot more fun than other methods I've tried. It's designed to be fun. I'm also remembering things a lot better, which encourages me to stick with it. If you're serious about wanting to learn a new language, I'd highly recommend this excellent resource.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.