One of the most puzzling lapses in accounts of the rise of the West following the decline of the Roman Empire is the casual way historians have dealt with Gutenberg's invention of printing. The cultural achievements that followed the fifteenth century, when the West moved from relative backwardness to remarkable, robust cultural achievement, would have been impossible without Gutenberg's gift and its subsequent widespread adoption across most of the world.

Richard Abel follows the radical cultural impact of the printing revolution from the eighth century to the Renaissance, addressing the viability of the new Christian/Classical culture. Although this culture proved too fragile to endure, those who salvaged it managed to preserve elements of the Classical substance together with the Bible and all the writings of the Church Fathers. The cultural upsurge of the Renaissance (fourteenth to seventeenth centuries), which resulted in part from Gutenberg's invention, is a major focus of this book.

Abel aims to delineate how the cultural revolution was shaped by the invention of printing. He evaluates its impact on the rapid reorientation and acceleration of the cultural evolution in the West. This book provides insight into the history of the printed word, the roots of modern-day mass book production, and the promise of the electronic revolution. It is an essential work in the history of ideas.

For more than a decade, writers have turned to William Germano for his insider's take on navigating the world of scholarly publishing. A professor, author, and thirty-year veteran of the book industry, Germano knows what editors want and what writers need to know to get their work published. Today there are more ways to publish than ever, and more challenges to traditional publishing. This ever-evolving landscape brings more confusion for authors trying to understand their options. The third edition of Getting It Published offers the clear, practicable guidance on choosing the best path to publication that has made it a trusted resource, now updated to include discussions of current best practices for submitting a proposal, of the advantages and drawbacks of digital publishing, and tips for authors publishing textbooks and in open-access environments. Germano argues that it's not enough for authors to write well--they also need to write with an audience in mind. He provides valuable guidance on developing a compelling book proposal, finding the right publisher, evaluating a contract, negotiating the production process, and, finally, emerging as a published author. "This endlessly useful and expansive guide is every academic's pocket Wikipedia: a timely, relevant, and ready resource on scholarly publishing, from the traditional monograph to the digital e-book. I regularly share it, teach it, and consult it myself, whenever I have a question on titling a chapter, securing a permission, or negotiating a contract. Professional advice simply does not get any savvier than this pitch-perfect manual on how to think like a publisher."--Diana Fuss, Princeton University

Broadcast News and Writing Stylebook is the go-to resource for writing broadcast news, offering readers the know-how to write excellent stories for television, radio, podcasts and online media. Through clear and concise chapters, this text provides the fundamental rules of broadcast news writing, teaching readers how to craft stories on government, crime, weather, education, health, sports and more. It covers the necessary mechanics news writers need to know, including the nuances of reporting, grammar, style and usage. This new seventh edition is updated with the latest on how stations incorporate online and social media strategies, as well as insights into the directions local news is headed. Author Robert A. Papper has over a quarter century of broadcast news and industry research experience and once again updates this vital text with the information necessary for being a successful news writer today. Also available for this edition is an Instructor's Guide, found on the book's webpage. Whether you're a student seeking to learn the mechanics of successful broadcast news writing or a working professional looking for a definitive reference for your desk, Broadcast News and Writing Stylebook offers a comprehensive guide to writing for television, audio and beyond.

This handbook brings together scholars from around the globe who here contribute to our understanding of how digital rhetoric is changing the landscape of writing. Increasingly, all of us must navigate networks of information, compose not just with computers but an array of mobile devices, increase our technological literacy, and understand the changing dynamics of authoring, writing, reading, and publishing in a world of rich and complex texts. Given such changes, and given the diverse ways in which younger generations of college students are writing, communicating, and designing texts in multimediated, electronic environments, we need to consider how the very act of writing itself is undergoing potentially fundamental changes. These changes are being addressed increasingly by the emerging field of digital rhetoric, a field that attempts to understand the rhetorical possibilities and affordances of writing, broadly defined, in a wide array of digital environments. Of interest to both researchers and students, this volume provides insights about the fields of rhetoric, writing, composition, digital media, literature, and multimodal studies.

The comprehensive resource for helping students succeed in the full variety of assignments they'll face in first-year writing courses.

A revolutionary approach to writing inspired by ancient Eastern wisdom, from the bestselling author of Wabi Sabi Join author and Japanologist Beth Kempton on a sacred journey to uncover the secrets of fearless writing which have lain buried in Eastern philosophy for two thousand years. In a radical departure from standard advice and widely-held assumptions about the effort and suffering required for creative success, The Way of the Fearless Writer will show you there is another way to thrive - a path of trust, ease, freedom and joy. Learn how to free your mind so your body can create, transform your relationship with fear, dissolve self-doubt, shift writer's block, access your true voice and bravely share your words with the world. This profound book reveals the deep connections between mind, body, spirit, breath and words. Offering a rare insight into the writing life and a host of fresh and original exercises, it will open your eyes to writing as a direct connection to life itself. Welcome to The Way of the Fearless Writer.

Writing centers in universities and colleges aim to help student writers develop practices that will make them better writers in the long term and that will improve their draft papers in the short term. The tutors who work in writing centers accomplish such goals through one-to-one talk about writing. This book analyzes the aboutness of writing center talk-what tutors and student writers talk about when they come together to talk about writing. By combining corpus-driven analysis to provide a quantitative, microlevel view of the subject matter and sociocultural discourse analysis to provide a qualitative macrolevel view of tutor-student writer interactions, it further establishes how these two research methods operate together to produce a robust and rigorous analysis of spoken discourse.

In Bonk, the best-selling author of Stiff turns her outrageous curiosity and insight on the most alluring scientific subject of all: sex. Can a person think herself to orgasm? Why doesn't Viagra help women-or, for that matter, pandas? Can a dead man get an erection? Is vaginal orgasm a myth? Mary Roach shows us how and why sexual arousal and orgasm-two of the most complex, delightful, and amazing scientific phenomena on earth-can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to make the bedroom a more satisfying place.

Reporting for Journalists explains the key skills needed by the twenty-first century news reporter. From the process of finding a story and tracing sources, to interviewing contacts, gathering information and filing the finished report, it is an essential handbook for students of journalism and a useful guide for working professionals.

Reporting for Journalists explores the role of the reporter in the world of modern journalism and emphasises the importance of learning to report across all media radio, television, online, newspapers and periodicals. Using case studies, and examples of print, online and broadcast news stories, the second edition of Reporting for Journalists includes:

• information on using wikis, blogs, social networks and online maps
• finding a story and how to develop ideas
• researching the story and building the contacts book including crowd sourcing and using chat rooms
• interactivity with readers and viewers and user generated content
• making best use of computer aided reporting (CAR), news groups and search engines
• covering courts, councils and press conferences
• reporting using video, audio and text
• preparing reports for broadcasting or publication
• consideration of ethical practice, and cultural expectations and problems
• an annotated guide to further reading, a glossary of key terms and a list of journalism websites and organisations.

A World Elsewhere is Steven Berkoff's bold attempt to describe his multifarious theatrical works. Berkoff outlines the methods that he uses, first of all as an actor, secondly as a playwright and thirdly as theatre director, as well as those subtle connections in between, when one discipline melds effortlessly into another. He examines the early impulses that generated his works and what drove him to give them form, as well as the challenges he faced when adapting the work of other authors. Berkoff discusses some of his most difficult, successful and unique creations, journeying through his long and varied career to examine how they were shaped by him, and how he was shaped by them. The sheer scale of this book offers a rare experience of an accomplished artist, combined with the honesty and insight of an autobiography, making this text a singular tool for teaching, inspiration and personal exploration. Suitable for anyone with an interest in Steven Berkoff and his illustrious career, A World Elsewhere is the part analysis and part confession of an artist whose work has been performed all over the world.

You know the authors' names. You recognize the title. You've probably used this book yourself. This is The Elements of Style, the classic style manual, now in a fourth edition. The revisions to the new edition are purposely kept minimal in order to retain the book's unique tone, wit, and charm. A new Glossary of the grammatical terms used in the book provides a convenient reference for readers. The discussion of pronoun use is revised to reflect the contemporary concern with sexist language. In addition, there are numerous slight revisions in the book itself which implement this advice. A new Foreword by Roger Angell reminds readers that the advice of Strunk & White is as valuable today as when it was first offered. This book has conveyed the principles of English style to millions of readers. Use the fourth edition of "the little book" to make a big impact with writing.

Across disciplinary borders, clarity is taken for granted as a cardinal virtue of communication in contemporary academia. But what is clarity, how is it practised in writing across disciplinary borders and how does it affect our ways of researching and thinking? This book explores such questions by scrutinising the ideal of clarity beyond its apparently self-evident value. Through a multi-methodological empirical analysis of the ideal of clarity, the author offers a sketch of what is termed 'the poetics of clarity', which is unfolded as a field of tension with important implications for sentence formation, authorial positioning and textual organisation. By way of a series of reflections on the possible consequences of this for thinking, this volume also explores the parts of knowledge production that may be marginalised, especially poetic language use, biases, interests and contexts, multi-dimensional arguments and errors. Revealing a positivist bias and a regime of high-speed consumption that characterise what, in certain regards, might be considered a productive space for knowledge production, Writing and Thinking in Contemporary Academia will appeal to scholars with interests in the sociology of knowledge, continental philosophy, the philosophy of science and academic writing.

If you've ever struggled to craft a powerful message that really hits the spot, you'll know it's harder than it looks. Wouldn't it be helpful to have an expert on hand to explain how the professionals really do it? Better still, how about a whole range of writers ready to pass on their trade secrets? Well that's exactly what you'll find in the pages of this book. Think of it as a rocket-assisted launch for your writing career, structured over ten distinct lessons and illustrated with classic and contemporary international examples of the best copywriting. Designed to help anyone who works with words improve their writing, this book is packed with practical techniques and features effective exercises to pump up your persuasive powers. Includes inspiring contributions from professional writers, an in-depth look at the challenges involved in writing copy for brands and worked examples that cover writing for digital, brand storytelling and packaging copy.

This book presents the authors' attempts to interrogate the ways that white institutional, pedagogical, and curricular heteronormativity affects equity in writing instruction at Two Year Colleges. Written from a wide range of subject and identity positions, this volume explores issues that arise among students inside historically white-dominant classrooms, among faculty as curriculum and hiring decisions are made, and among colleagues when they attempt to engage the wider institution in equity work. Aiming to significantly change how urban Community College writing instruction is delivered in this country, the book operates on the principle that equity is essential to successful writing pedagogy, curricular development, and student success.

Originally published in 2005, To Be A Playwright is an insightful and detailed guide to the craft of playwriting. Part memoir and part how-to guide, this useful book outlines the tools and techniques necessary to the aspiring playwright. Comprised of a collection of memoirs and lectures which blend seamlessly to deliver a practical hands-on guide to playwriting, this book illuminates the elusive challenges confronting creators of dynamic expression and offers a roadmap to craft of playwrighting.

"Punctuation Matters" gives straight answers the queries raised most frequently by practitioners in computing, engineering, medicine and science as they grapple with day-to-day tasks in writing and editing. The advice it offers is based on John Kirkman's long experience of providing courses on writing and editing in academic centers, large companies, research organizations, and government departments, in the UK, Europe and in the USA. Sample material discussed in the book comes from real documents from computing, engineering and scientific contexts, giving the guidelines an immediately recognizable, "true to life" relevance, which is both down-to-earth and up-to-date.
The book is clearly set out in three parts:
- Part 1 states a policy for clear and reliable punctuation
- Part 2 gives a series of alphabetically arranged guidelines, to be "dipped into" for guidance on how to use the main punctuation marks in English
- Part 3 contains appendices on paragraphing, word-division, and how conventions of punctuation differ from country to country.
Punctuation Matters is the essential guide for technical writers, editors and communicators, with clear explanations on punctuation, what it does and how to use it.

With growing academic responsibilities, family commitments, and inboxes, scholars are struggling to fulfill their writing goals. A finished book or even steady journal articles may seem like an impossible dream. But, as Joli Jensen proves, it really is possible to write happily and productively in academe. Jensen begins by busting the myth that universities are supportive writing environments. She points out that academia, an arena dedicated to scholarship, offers pressures that actually prevent scholarly writing. She shows how to acknowledge these less-than-ideal conditions, and how to keep these circumstances from draining writing time and energy. Jensen introduces tools and techniques that encourage frequent, low-stress writing. She points out common ways writers stall and offers workarounds that maintain productivity. Her focus is not on content, but on how to overcome whatever stands in the way of academic writing.Write No Matter What draws on popular and scholarly insights into the writing process and stems from Jensen's experience designing and directing a faculty writing program. With more than three decades as an academic writer, Jensen knows what really helps and hinders the scholarly writing process for scholars in the humanities, social sciences,and sciences. Cut down the academic sword of Damocles, Jensen advises. Learn how to write often and effectively, without pressure or shame. With her encouragement, writers of all levels will find ways to create the writing support they need and deserve.

Digital Sports Journalism gives detailed guidance on a range of digital practices for producing content for smartphones and websites. Each chapter discusses a skill that has become essential for sports journalists today, with student-friendly features throughout to support learning. These include case studies, examples of sports journalism from leading global publications, as well as top tips and practical exercises. The book also presents interviews with leading sport and club journalists with wide-ranging experience at the BBC, Copa90, Wimbledon Tennis, the Guardian and BT Sport, who discuss working with new technologies to cover sports stories and events. Chapters cover: live blogging; making and disseminating short videos; working for a sports club or governing body; finding and transmitting stories on social media; podcasting; longform online journalism. The job of a sports journalist has altered dramatically over the first two decades of the 21st century, with scope to write content across a new variety of digital platforms and mediums. Digital Sports Journalism will help students of journalism and professionals unlock the potential of these new media technologies.

For Mark Charlton, blogging is 'a road of chance and discovery', one which has shaped the person he's become; a journey that is 'happenstance on acid.' In Views from the Bike Shed he not only shares a selection of engaging, articulate and deeply-felt posts from the eponymous blog, but also charts his praxis as a writer. Advocating for blogging as a process and form that deserves serious attention, Charlton shows how it changes our writing and opens up unexpected opportunities along the way. Interspersed between blog posts on life and landscape, objects and artistic process there are also 'Interludes'. And together these interludes not only give insight into how to blog, but dive into the depths of why blogging is such a rich resource in our writerly and human toolbox. Exploring how writing from our experience can become an inclusive and authentic means of connecting with readers, allowing them to make their own discoveries, Views from the Bike Shed is at once eminently practical as well as giving a vital meditation on the ways writers can push their own boundaries through this medium. Mark Charlton's Views from the Bike Shed blog has been an addiction of mine for years. Mark's views are wise, finely expressed, broad-ranging, acutely observed and scintillatingly intelligent. A published collection is cause for widespread rejoicing. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did the originals. - Jim Perrin