This is the Yorkshire edition of the humorous dictionary of toponymy and etymology, created by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd. If you opened this book expecting to find a variety of quaint thee and thy-based colloquialisms with the odd "ee-by-gum" and "tha'll be reet" thrown in for good measure, you may be a little disappointed...However, if you picked up this book because you're curious about things for which no words exist, and have a mild interest in random Yorkshire villages with quirky names - then you're in luck! The Yorkshire Meaning of Liff twins some of the obscurely wonderful, often unheard of and wastefully under-used place names of this glorious county, with the numerous experiences, feelings, situations and objects which we all know but, for some reason, have no words attributed to them. In no time at all you could be waxing lyrical about your most recent denaby main; empathising with friends who have also suffered a grimston, or expressing a whiston acquired during a state of galphay...

John Lloyd was the poster boy of British tennis - a former British number one, Grand Slam finalist, Wimbledon mixed-doubles champion and Davis Cup captain. Remarkably, he and his two brothers, David (of leisure club fame) and Tony, all played in the singles championship at Wimbledon in the same year: a testament to the parents who believed in their sons' dreams as the boys batted tennis balls against a garage wall in Essex. Told with humour and honesty, John's autobiography is filled with intimate insight and captivating tales of Hollywood celebrities, tennis icons, broadcasting greats and loves lost - from his marriage to the legendary Chris Evert and dealings with Donald Trump to his sobering battle with cancer and drug addiction at the heart of his family. As the story unfolds, the John of today sends letters of advice to his former self in a yearnful act of 'if I only knew then what I know now'. What we now know for certain is that John Lloyd has lived an extraordinary life.

This book, first published in 1986, examines the miners’ strike of 1984-5 – an event that formed the decisive break with a forty-year-old British tradition of political and industrial compromise. The stakes for the main parties were so high that the price each was willing to pay, the loss each was willing to sustain, exceeded anything seen in an industrial dispute in half a century. This book examines and assesses the strike’s full implications, and puts it into its historical and political context.

The Meaning of Liff has sold hundreds of thousands of copies since it was first published in 1983, and remains a much-loved humour classic. This edition has been revised and updated, and includes The Deeper Meaning of Liff, giving fresh appeal to Douglas Adams and John Lloyd's entertaining and witty dictionary. In life, there are hundreds of familiar experiences, feelings and objects for which no words exist, yet hundreds of strange words are idly loafing around on signposts, pointing at places. The Meaning of Liff connects the two. BERRIWILLOCK (n.) - An unknown workmate who writes 'All the best' on your leaving card. ELY (n.) - The first, tiniest inkling that something, somewhere has gone terribly wrong. GRIMBISTER (n.) - Large body of cars on a motorway all travelling at exactly the speed limit because one of them is a police car. KETTERING (n.) - The marks left on your bottom or thighs after sunbathing on a wickerwork chair. OCKLE (n.) - An electrical switch which appears to be off in both positions. WOKING (ptcpl.vb.) - Standing in the kitchen wondering what you came in here for.

The eye-popping, gob-smacking, rib-tickling phenomenon that is QI serves up a brand new selection of 1,423 facts to bowl you over.

Iceland imports ice cubes

A group of ladybirds is called a loveliness

It is illegal in Saudi Arabia to name a child Sandi

Eight billion particles of fog can fit into a teaspoon

People who read books live longer than people who don't

Prince Philip was born on a kitchen table in Corfu

No human beings have ever had sex in space

Netflix's biggest competitor is sleep

Mice sigh up to 40 times an hour

This book, first published in 1986, examines the miners' strike of 1984-5 - an event that formed the decisive break with a forty-year-old British tradition of political and industrial compromise. The stakes for the main parties were so high that the price each was willing to pay, the loss each was willing to sustain, exceeded anything seen in an industrial dispute in half a century. This book examines and assesses the strike's full implications, and puts it into its historical and political context.

Seed inoculation is the practice of effectively introducing a high number of nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Rhizobium or Bradyrhizobium) on the surface of legume seeds prior to planting. The bacteria penetrates the root, resulting in the formation of root nodules that fix nitrogen from the air, and make it readily available to the plant. This book describes the need, the development and the use of rhizobia, and how this process may be reproduced successfully around the world, especially in underdeveloped agricultural countries.

The Third Book of General Ignorance gathers together 180 questions, both new and previously featured on the BBC TV programme's popular 'General Ignorance' round, and show why, when it comes to general knowledge, none of us knows anything at all. Who invented the sandwich? What was the best thing before sliced bread? Who first ate frogs' legs? Which cat never changes its spots? What did Lady Godiva do? What can you legally do if you come across a Welshman in Chester after sunset?

An indispensable compendium of popular misconceptions, misunderstandings and common mistakes culled from the hit BBC show, QI. From the bestselling authors of The Book of General Ignorance comes a noticeably stouter edition, with 26% extra facts and figures perfect for trivia, pub quiz and general knowledge enthusiasts. The QI team sets out again to show you that a lot of what you think you know is wrong. If, like Alan Davies, you still think the Henry VIII had six wives, the earth has only one moon, that George Washington was the first president of the USA, that Bangkok is the capital of Thailand, that the largest living thing is a blue whale, that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, that whisky and bagpipes come from Scotland or that Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain, then there are at least 200 reasons why this is the book for you. The researchers at QI have written many bestselling books including such titles as The QI Book of General Ignorance and 1,277 Facts To Blow Your Socks Off. They now present a noticeably stouter edition, an indispensable handbook for trivia lovers, pub quiz enthusiasts and general knowledge experts alike. And remember - everything you think you know is still wrong.

Just when you thought it was safe to start showing off again, the bestselling authors of The Book of General Ignorance and 1,277 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off are back. With a foreword by Stephen Fry, this parcel of unimaginable information is here to solve a few common misconceptions, mistakes and misunderstandings. Octopuses have six legs, oranges aren't orange, bats aren't blind, napoleon wasn't short, vikings didn't wear horned helmets, there is no such thing as a fish. QI: The Second Book of General Ignorance is the essential set text for everyone who's proud to admit that they don't know everything, and an ideal stick with which to beat people who think they do. John Lloyd and John Mitchinson are the bestselling authors of QI: The Book of General Ignorance and 1,277 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off. Here they present a wonderful collection of astonishingly interesting facts, perfect for pub quiz lovers, trivia buffs and general knowledge experts alike.

QI The Pocket Book of Animals is John Lloyd and John Mitchinson's funny, eccentric and confounding handbook filled with interesting animal facts and figures. Join the QI team for an off-road safari into the wildlife, past one hundred of the most unusual members of the animal kingdom, armed with illuminating illustrations and diagrams by award-winning artist Ted Dewan. Amongst the weird, wonderful and really quite interesting animal facts, meet albatrosses that fly non-stop for ten years, leeches with 34 brains, koalas that don't drink, geese that mourn their dead and lobsters that live for a century. marvel at elephants that walk on tiptoe, pigs that shine in the dark, and woodpeckers that have ears on the end of their tongues. Collected by the writers of the hit BBC show, QI, and authors of the international bestsellers The Book of General Ignorance and 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off, QI The Pocket Book of Animals is an animal encyclopedia that even David Attenborough would learn something from. And remember - everything you think you know is wrong.

The ultimate compendium of crisp one-liners, knockout jokes, droll asides and universal truths collected over the years by the creators of QI. 'You know 'that look' women get when they want sex? Me neither.' Steve Martin 'You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from nesting in your hair.' Chinese proverb 'The Beatles are dying in the wrong order.' Victor Lewis-Smith 'Cauliflower is nothing but a cabbage with a college education.' Mark Twain 'Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember: it didn't work for the rabbit.' R.E. Shay 'If it were not for quotations, conversation between gentlemen would be an endless series of 'what-ho's!'' P.G.Wodehouse

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1853 edition. Excerpt: ...his head, and heard his long, regular, and continued swallows; and when he had finished the jar he drew a long breath, went to the window, came to my bedside, looked at me for a moment, probably thinking wl_.at a deal of useless trouble I took in pulling oil' my clothes; and, throwing himself upon the divan, in a few moments he was again asleep. ln the morning immediately after breakfast one of the monks came to conduct me through the convent. The building covered a great extent of ground; and for strength and solidity, as well as size, resembled a fortress. It was built by the Empress Helena, over the spot consecrated as the birthplace of our Saviour, and was intended, so far as human handiwork could do so, to honour and reverence the holy spot. The insuflicient means of the pious empress, however, or some other cause, prevented its being finished according to the plan she had designed; and the charity of subsequent Christians has barely sufliced to keep it from falling to. ruin. The great church would have been a magnificent building if finished according to her plan; but now, in its incomplete state, it is a melancholy monument of defeated ambition. On each side is a range of noble columns, supporting a frieze of wood, which the monk told me. was cedar from Lebanon, and still remaining almost as sound as the solid stone. The whole building is divided among the Catholics, Greeks, and Armenians, the three great bodies who represent, or rather misrepresent, Christianity in the East. Each has its limits, beyond which the others must not pass; and again there are certain parts which are common to all. The Turkish government exercises a control over it; and, taking advantage of the dissensions between these different professors, sells...

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1853 edition. Excerpt: ...his head, and heard his long, regular, and continued swallows; and when he had finished the jar he drew a long breath, went to the window, came to my bedside, looked at me for a moment, probably thinking wl_.at a deal of useless trouble I took in pulling oil' my clothes; and, throwing himself upon the divan, in a few moments he was again asleep. ln the morning immediately after breakfast one of the monks came to conduct me through the convent. The building covered a great extent of ground; and for strength and solidity, as well as size, resembled a fortress. It was built by the Empress Helena, over the spot consecrated as the birthplace of our Saviour, and was intended, so far as human handiwork could do so, to honour and reverence the holy spot. The insuflicient means of the pious empress, however, or some other cause, prevented its being finished according to the plan she had designed; and the charity of subsequent Christians has barely sufliced to keep it from falling to. ruin. The great church would have been a magnificent building if finished according to her plan; but now, in its incomplete state, it is a melancholy monument of defeated ambition. On each side is a range of noble columns, supporting a frieze of wood, which the monk told me. was cedar from Lebanon, and still remaining almost as sound as the solid stone. The whole building is divided among the Catholics, Greeks, and Armenians, the three great bodies who represent, or rather misrepresent, Christianity in the East. Each has its limits, beyond which the others must not pass; and again there are certain parts which are common to all. The Turkish government exercises a control over it; and, taking advantage of the dissensions between these different professors, sells...

John Lloyd Stephens (1805 1852) was an American politician, explorer and writer who is renowned for his pioneering research into the ancient Maya civilisation of Central America. In 1839 Stephens was appointed a Special Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Central America (modern Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador). First published in 1841, this two-volume work is an account of his travels in 1839 and 1840, visiting and recording ancient Mayan sites. Stephens describes Cop n, Palenque and forty-two other ancient sites and includes over fifty illustrations drawn by his travelling companion Frederick Catherwood (1799 1854), a professional architect. Although earlier accounts of Mayan ruins had been published, Stephens' vivid descriptions and Catherwood's meticulous drawings were far more detailed and accurate than previous reports, and kindled Victorian interest in the ancient Maya civilisation. Volume 1 focuses on Cop n and the indigenous cultures of Central America.

John Lloyd Stephens (1805 1852) was an American politician, explorer and writer who is renowned for his pioneering research into the ancient Maya civilisation of Central America. In 1839 Stephens was appointed a Special Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Central America (modern Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador). First published in 1841, this two-volume work is an account of his travels in 1839 and 1840, visiting and recording ancient Mayan sites. Stephens describes Cop n, Palenque and forty-two other ancient sites and includes over fifty illustrations drawn by his travelling companion Frederick Catherwood (1799 1854), a professional architect. Although earlier accounts of Mayan ruins had been published, Stephens' vivid descriptions and Catherwood's meticulous drawings were far more detailed and accurate than previous reports, and kindled Victorian interest in the ancient Maya civilisation. Volume 2 focuses on Palenque, Uxmal and other Mayan sites.

In the multi-agent systems area, linking theory to practical applications is still a fertile research topic. The aim of the workshop on Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies (DALT 2009), in its seventh edition this year, is to achieve this goal, which needs developing and using advanced declarative technologies and languages, particularly agent programming, communication languages, and reasoning and decision-making mechanisms. Developing these technologies is a particularly challenging issue from many perspectives: formal foundations, pr- ticalfeasibility, degreeof?exibility, etc. Inthiscontext, thedeclarativeparadigm is arguably the most appropriate as unlike imperative approaches, the focus is onwhatthe solutionshouldaccomplishratherthanondescribing howto acc- plish it. This is because agentcomputing, as a paradigm, is about describing the logic of computation instead of describing how to accomplish it. DALT is about investigating, studying, andusing the declarativeparadigmaswell ascombining declarative and formal approaches with engineering and technology aspects of agents and multi-agent systems. This volume presents the latest developments in the area of declarative l- guagesandtechnologies, whichaimtoproviderigorousframeworksfordesigning, specifying, implementing and verifying autonomous interacting agents. These frameworksarebasedoncomputationallogicsand other formalmethods suchas mathematical models and game theoretical approaches. Using such models and approaches facilitates the development of agents that reason and act rationally while at the same time being able to verify the behavior of these agents against their speci?cation. The main theme of DALT 2009 was the further advan- ment of relevant speci?cation and veri?cation techniques, such as, for instance, modal and epistemic logics, model checking, constraint logic programming, and distributed constraint satisfa

'I love these books ... the best books ever. Brilliant' Chris Evans This is an astonishing trove of the strangest, funniest, and most improbable tidbits of knowledge from the clever lot at the hugely popular BBC quiz show QI. The sock-blasting, jaw-dropping, side-swiping phenomenon that is QI serves up a sparkling new selection of 1,342 facts to leave you flabbergasted. Did you know that: Trees sleep at night. Google searches for 'How to put on a condom' peak at 10.28pm. There is no word for time in any Aboriginal language. Scotland has 421 words for snow. Emoji is the fastest growing language in history. Astronauts wear belts to stop their trousers falling up. The name Donald means 'ruler of the world'. Tanks are exempt from London's Congestion charge. The world's only Cornish pasty museum is in Mexico. When you blush so does the lining of your stomach. A group of unicorns is called a blessing. If there are any facts you don't believe, or if you want to know more about them, all the sources can be found on www.qi.com

A liff is a familiar object or experience that English has no word for. Afterliff, its long-awaited sequel, corrects this disgraceful oversight by recycling the names found on signposts. This brilliant successor to Douglas Adams' and John Lloyd's 1983 classic The Meaning of Liff features over 900 essential new definitions, including: Anglesey n. Hypothetical object at which a lazy eye is looking. Badlesmeare n. One who dishonestly ticks the 'I have read and agree to the Terms and Conditions' box. Caterham n. An overwhelming desire to use the Pope's hat as an oven glove. Clavering ptcpl v. Pretending to text when alone and feeling vulnerable in public. Eworthy adj. Of a person: worth emailing but not worth phoning or meeting. Kanumbra n. The sense that someone is standing behind you. Ljubljana interj. What people say to the dentist on the way out. Loughborough n. The false gusto with which children eat vegetables in adverts. Sorrento n. The thing that goes round and round as a YouTube video loads. Uralla n. A towel used as a bathmat. In 1983, John Lloyd and Douglas Adams authored The Meaning of Liff, a bestselling humour classic which went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies. John Lloyd's other books include 1,411 QI Facts To Knock You Sideways and The Book of General Ignorance.

The QI Annuals are the nearest things to having the hit BBC1 TV show live in your living room. Top comedians and brainiacs, from Stephen Fry and Alan Davies to guests such as Phill Jupitus, Jo Brand, Clive Anderson, Jeremy Clarkson and Rowan Atkinson, have joined top cartoonists and illustrators, and the estimiable QI elves themselves in the first three QI Annuals, covering the letters E, F and G (starting at A is so overrated). Collected by the writers of the BBC show, QI, and authors of the worldwide bestsellers The Book of General Ignorance and 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off, here is a hilarious and informative selection of the QI team's fun facts. Featuring the likes of Stephen Fry, Alan Davies and many other QI guests, this bumper paperback edition is the perfect Christmas gift for pub quiz experts, fans of Guinness World Records and lovers of all things QI.

Welcome to QI: The Book of the Dead, a biographical dictionary with a twist - one where only the most interesting people made it in!QI have got together six dozen of the happiest, saddest, maddest and most successful men and women from history. Celebrate their wisdom, learn from their mistakes and marvel at their bad taste in clothes. Hans Christian Anderson was terrified of naked women, Florence Nightingale spent her last fifty years in bed, Sigmund Freud smoked twenty cigars a day, Catherine de Medici applied a daily face mask made of pigeon dung, Rembrandt van Rijn died penniless and Madame Mao banned cicadas, rustling noises and pianos. Carefully collected and ordered by the QI team into themed chapters with thought-provoking titles such as 'There's Nothing Like a Bad Start in Life', 'Man Cannot Live by Bread Alone'. Each chapter reveals hilarious insights into the true nature of the most interesting people who ever lived, including Isaac Newton, Genghis Khan, Sigmund Freud, Florence Nightingale and Karl Marx. From the bestselling authors of The Book of General Ignorance and 1,277 Facts to Knock Your Socks Off, comes a fun and inspirational biographical dictionary, with motivational stories about the famous and the obscure.

Seed inoculation is the practice of effectively introducing a high number of nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Rhizobium or Bradyrhizobium) on the surface of legume seeds prior to planting. The bacteria penetrates the root, resulting in the formation of root nodules that fix nitrogen from the air, and make it readily available to the plant. This book describes the need, the development and the use of rhizobia, and how this process may be reproduced successfully around the world, especially in underdeveloped agricultural countries.

Earth - a small, insignificant planet. Entirely devoid of intelligent life. At least that's according to the legal documents. The Doctor, Romana and K9 find themselves at the centre of a most unusual trial. An intergalactic corporation wants to bulldoze the planet for a development project. Only a previous court's preservation document is standing in their way. The Doctor has been summoned as an expert witness. If he can prove Earth contains intelligent life, the whole world will be saved. But with a fortune at stake... it was never going to be that simple. Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana), John Leeson (K9), Julian Wadham (Judge Perigord Trent), Spencer Banks (Kovaks), Nicholas Briggs (Foreman of the Lost Jury), Richard Laing (Skorpios/Lieson Tilpractive-Frong/Geoff), Christopher Naylor (Villager), Paul Panting (Smilax), Jane Slavin (Clerk), Jeany Spark (Tragacanth/Cham’Yal). Other parts played by members of the cast.

'I love these books ... the best books ever. Brilliant' Chris Evans QI is the smartest comedy show on British television, but few people know that we're also a major legal hit in Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Africa and an illegal one on BitTorrent. We also write books and newspaper columns; run some (frankly thriving, if we do say so ourselves) social media pages; and some of us appear on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Showon BBC Radio 2 every week to answer your questions. At the core of what we do is the astonishing fact - painstakingly researched and distilled to a brilliant and shocking clarity. In Einstein's words: 'Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.' Did you know that: Cows moo in regional accents. The entire internet weighs less than a grain of sand. Tintin is called Tantan in Japanese because TinTin is pronounced 'Chin chin' and means penis. The water in the mouth of a blue whale weighs more than its body. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, it is explicitly illegal in Britain to use a machinegun to kill a hedgehog. 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off will make you look at the universe (and your socks) in an alarming new way.

Since N. Scott Momaday's 1969 Pulitzer Prize for "House Made of Dawn" brought Native American fiction squarely into mainstream culture, the genre has expanded in different ways and in new directions. The result is a Native American-written literature that requires a variety of critical approaches, including a discussion of how this canon differs from the familiar, established canons of American literature. Drawing on personal experience as well as literary scholarship, John Lloyd Purdy brings the traditions of Native American fiction into conversation with ideas about the past, present, and future of Native literatures. By revisiting some of the classics of the genre and offering critical readings of their distinctive qualities and shades of meaning, Purdy celebrates their dynamic literary qualities. Interwoven with this personal reflection on the last thirty years of work in the genre are interviews with prominent Native American scholars and writers (including Paula Gunn Allen, Simon Ortiz, Gerald Vizenor, Sherman Alexie, and Louis Owens), who offer their own insights about Native literatures and the future of the genre. In this book their voices provide the original, central conversation that leads to readings of specific novels. At once a journey of discovery for readers new to the canon and an intimate, fresh reunion with important novels for those well versed in Native studies, "Writing Indian, Native Conversations" invites all comers to participate in a communal conversation.