In an original and wide-ranging study, Rhian Jones documents the unique contribution which picturebooks and stories make to the development of the infant mind between the ages of nine months and two years, using video recorded data to chart the children's progress. She then analyzes the connection between these very early behaviors and subsequent achievements in literacy. The work integrates research from a number of disciplines: linguistics, psychology, literary theory, and anthropology, to draw out the different levels at which book-based interactions may be seen to be "working."

Chondrules in primitive meteorites have excited and challenged scientists since they were first described nearly 200 years ago. Chondrules were made by some pervasive process in the early solar system that formed melted silicate droplets. This 1996 text was the first comprehensive review of chondrules and their origins since a consensus developed that they were made in the disk of gas and solids that formed the Sun and planets 4.5 billion years ago. Fifty scientists from assorted disciplines have collaborated to review how chondrules could have formed in the protoplanetary disk. When and where in the disk did they form? What were they made from and how fast were they heated and cooled? What provided the energy to melt chondrules - nebular shock waves, lightning discharges, protostellar jets? Following an exciting international conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the latest answers to these questions are presented in thirty-four articles.

Why have both pop and politics in Britain become the preserve of an unrepresentative elite? From chav-pop pantomimes to retro-chauvinist 'landfill indie', the bland, homogenous and compromised nature of the current 'alternative' sector reflects the interests of a similarly complacent and privileged political establishment. In particular, political and media policing of female social and sexual autonomy, through the neglected but significant gendered dimensions of the discourse surrounding 'chavs', has been accompanied by a similar restriction and regulation of the expression of working-class femininity in music. This book traces the progress of this cultural clampdown over the past twenty years.

In a unique study of parent-infant interactions at home, Rhian Jones analyses early reading with picture books and stories. Drawing upon psychology, linguistics and anthropology she provides a wide ranging and highly original account of the conversational 'rules' of reading dialogues, semantic knowledge and picture book reading, the ontogenesis of narrative and the construction and expression of the infant unconscious. This provides an absorbing and valuable account to all academics and practitioners concerned with language acquisition, literacy and early childhood development.

In the majority of mainstream writing and discussions on music, women appear purely in relation to men as muses, groupies or fangirls, with our own experiences, ideas and arguments dismissed or ignored. But this hasn't stopped generations of women from loving, being moved by and critically appreciating music, even - and sometimes especially - when we feel we shouldn't. Under My Thumb: Songs that Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them is a study of misogyny in music through the eyes of women. It brings together stories from journalists, critics, musicians and fans about artists or songs we love (or used to love) despite their questionable or troubling gender politics, and looks at how these issues interact with race, class and sexuality. As much celebration as critique, this collection explores the joys, tensions, contradictions and complexities of women loving music - however that music may feel about them. Featuring: murder ballads, country, metal, hip hop, emo, indie, Phil Spector, David Bowie, Guns N' Roses, 2Pac, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, AC/DC, Elvis Costello, Jarvis Cocker, Kanye West, Swans, Eminem, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Combichrist and many more.