words - one monkey + one keyboard (Page 5)

June Reading List

The Psychology of Language - Trevor Harley An excellent introduction to psycholinguistics. It covers lots of ground that is of interest to psychologists & less so to linguists. So that's stuff on speech production and perception (fun with phonemes) lots & lots of reaction time experiments, some elegant

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Stasiland - Anna Funder

http://www.granta.com/authors/1884 It was a good bookgroup choice. it was not a book i would have picked myself but I was really pleased to read it.. both because it was educational and cos she did a great job of telling the individual tales by which was

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May reading list

A lot less than normal this month & late to boot due to my preoccupation with cramming for my exams. Psychopathology - John Stirling & Jonathan Hellewell A Scottish Higher level textbook giving a whistlestop tour of some psychological disorders; schiz, depression, eating disorders, etc. Necessarily brief but the final

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Three Monkeys on the underground

Brueghel's Two Monkeys This is what I see in my dream about final exams: two monkeys, chained to the floor, sit on the windowsill, the sky behind them flutters, the sea is taking its bath. The exam is History of Mankind. I stammer and hedge. One monkey stares

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April Reading List

Damsel in Distress - P G Wodehouse Another seemingly effortless piece of Wodehouse brilliance. It is reassuring to know that he actually spent ages rewriting drafts, refining his lines and polishing his sparkling wit. Dreaming War - Gore VidalA collection of essays about American Imperialism, blood for oil, other US

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By George, It's Bill's 440th birthday!

Yes, St George's day has swung round again, but there will be no celebrations in the name of some bloodthirsty, semi-mythical Turk, (if you must do that, St Nicolas is a better choice) I don't want to be involved in anything remotely jingoistic that might involve

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I am book cross

I helped some friends move house on last Thursday, it made me painfully aware of the volume of junk I posses. Lots of heavy possession which will have to lunk out of my flat in a short while. I've resolved to rid myself of much of it but

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Context is Everything - Susan Engel

http://www.williams.edu/P...ngel/engel.html I have just finished reading this excellent book (subtitled 'The Nature of Memory') and it reminds me why starting my psychology degree is the best thing I've ever done. This wonderful semi-popular, semi-academic book on the transactional, narrative

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March Reading List

Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett TP takes on war, the military and misogyny on his own terms and after his own now famous style. The setting is of course Discworld and the technology of the day, is approximately C18 in old money, but as always the parallels and satires apply

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Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen & a Moose went to a party

can anyone confirm the veracity of this anecdote from The Act of Creation? Some years ago, at a fancy dress ball - in Monte Carlo, I believe - a competition was held ot decide which among the dozen or so guests masquerading as Charlie Chaplin came nearest to the original.

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The moon on a sling!

I'm reading Arthur Koestler's The Act of Creation. All about the creative process in the arts and sciences. Along the wayhe emphasises that many scientific advances and even revolutions often have many precursors. He gives a wonderful example of how the Roman historian Plutarch (c. 45

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The Secret Life of Walther PPK

http://onemonkey.org/text/secretagent.html In homage to James Thurber and Ian Fleming, I've just written this very short, short story. I rather like it, but wonder if anyone will 'get' it? [click on the title to follow the link]

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my impressions of The Impressionist

The Impressionist - Hari Kunzru Urban75 March bookgroup choice. The Impressionist met with widespread approval but lacked a champion. we all agreed that it was well written, inventive and much more besides but no-one offered it unconditional love. he was wonderful at painting pictures of foreign places, times and attitudes

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who knew who in shakespeare's plays

http://www.jibble.org/shakespeare/ some geeks with a bit of culture!? who knew!? Social Relations in Shakespeare using PieSpy Julius Caesar: Forever, and forever, farewell, Cassius! If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; If not, why then this parting was well made. Julius CÊsar. Act v. Sc.

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February Reading List

Here's what i read this month: If nobody speaks of remarkable things - Jon Macgregor A debut novel set in a suburban street in some northern town, revolving around the events of one sunday afternoon and the aftermath. the 'prose poem' moments most usually grate but

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The jetset lifestyle of the psycholinguist???

Just read the most bizarre opening paragraph of any academic textbook i've ever seen The Psychology of Language - Trevor Harley what sort of lifestyle do psycholinguists lead?

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Literate Year - January

one of my new year's resolutions was to keep a note of the books i read this year, here's what i got through in january: Don't Panic - Neil Gaiman A good book for Douglas Adams/HHGTTG anoraks - recently revised edition, Neil Gaiman&

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counting the words until you are near

sort of true to my word, i've started this year's coursework a bit earlier. i don't have to hand it til 6pm Thurs 29 Jan and theres a 3000 word limit.. so in some senses I am over half way there. in other senses

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an education

It was back in history when i said "hi babe, i think there's chemistry between us." "no," she said, "it's physics", and hit me before turning on her heel and putting geography between us.

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Jesus

"I realised that my problem wasn't with Christ, but with the hypocrisy of Christians. Jesus is cool. It's just all the people who follow him that are such idiots.... He's like the Fonz in that respect." - Richard Herring

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Samuel Johnson

"Samuel Johnson, for instance, was not only a prodigy of wit, erudition and courage, but also a whimsical man who delighted in rolling down steep hills to amuse his friends." (from Eccentrics by David Weeks & Jamie James)

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Chair in philosophy

Is just me or is the fact that the chair seems to be the canonical object of philosophers perceptions (if we ignore the occasional tree in the quad) an indication that they spend too much time sitting around on their arses?