Edward Sapir Language

We all use language every day of our lives. Language, regardless of the particular dialect spoken, is the tool we use to express our wants, our needs, and our feelings.

The 36 lectures of Understanding Linguistics: The Science of Language—taught by acclaimed linguist, author, and Professor John McWhorter from the Manhattan Institute—are your opportunity to take a revealing journey through the fascinating terrain of linguistics. You focus on the scientific aspects of human language that were left out of any classes you may have taken in English or a foreign language, and you emerge from your journey with a newfound appreciation of the mysterious machinery built into all of us—an appreciation likely to surface time and again in your everyday life.

The 36 lectures of Understanding Linguistics: The Science of Language–taught by acclaimed linguist, author, and Professor John McWhorter from the Manhattan Institute–are your opportunity to take a revealing journey through the fascinating terrain of linguistics. You focus on the scientific aspects of human language that were left out of any classes you may have taken in English or a foreign language, and you emerge from your journey with a newfound appreciation of the mysterious machinery built into all of us–an appreciation likely to surface time and again in your everyday life.

"The Nymphs" tells the story of a wandering mortal who ends up in the realm of the Queen of the Nymphs. The late Scottish entertainer Jimmy Logan narrates the story, interwoven with hauntingly beautiful music composed by Jan Kisjes and magical poems recited by Bryan Maguire. The combination of story, music and poems results in a fairytale decor. The package also contains a second music-only CD.

If your Latin jazz collection centers mainly around styles from Cuba and Brazil, pianist Edward Simon would like you to consider expanding your library to include musical influences from a culturally diverse land geographically situated between those two countries – namely Venezuela, where he was born and lived until the age of 12. Simon is an acclaimed post-bop and modern creative jazz pianist in his adopted country of the United States, and while Latin American elements have certainly seasoned his recorded output to date, this 2014 Sunnyside release finds him focusing more intently than ever on the nexus between creative jazz and the folk music of his home country. The album's title is derived from "Venezuelan Suite," whose four parts fill over 28 minutes of the disc's concise 38-minute duration. Simon composed the suite for his Ensemble Venezuela, and the ten-member version of the group heard here – including musicians from the U.S., Venezuela, and Colombia – is wonderfully vibrant, ably fulfilling the pianist's creative intent. Chamber Music America commissioned Simon to write this work, and he rose to the challenge with music that is suitably rich with timbral and textural variety.

Il ruolo delle formiche nella biosfera – ci dice Edward Wilson – è così importante che l'umanità forse non potrebbe sopravvivere senza di esse. E di certo non potrebbe sopravvivere senza batteri e archei, l'invisibile e onnipresente «materia oscura» dell'universo vivente della Terra. Ma l'umanità, prigioniera della propria strategia arcaica della sopravvivenza a breve termine, è ancora troppo concentrata su se stessa e sui propri bisogni, e sta distruggendo la natura con la forza di un meteorite. Entro la fine del secolo, metà di tutte le specie potrebbero essere definitivamente uscite di scena. Avrà allora inizio quella che potrebbe venire ricordata un giorno come l'Era eremozoica – l'Età della Solitudine. …