‘Caroline Taggart has carved out a niche for herself in user-friendly, wittily written factual books.’ – Yorkshire Post ______________________ The huge variety of colourful phrases contained in the English language are notoriously varied and, often, notably odd. From blue-blooded (an invention of aristocratic Spaniards) to limelight (a way of lighting Victorian theatres), passing an exam with flying colours (an image from sailing ships) to winning hands down (from horse racing), the fascinating expressions that make up our language are explored in Humble Pie and Cold Turkey. In this highly entertaining book, language enthusiast and Sunday Times best-selling author Caroline Taggart browses through thousands of years of history to shed light on why we use the words and phrases we do. Arranged by themes including food, the household, childhood, romance and more, this intriguing book looks at the origins of our language from their historical context. For example, did you know that: If you rest on your laurels, you’re imitating a complacent Roman general? If you eavesdrop, you’re likely to get wet? If you’re taken aback, you should, strictly speaking, be a sailing ship? If you’re galvanized into action, you’re behaving like Frankenstein’s monster? Humble Pie and Cold Turkey will prompt you to question the downright bizarre idioms we use to express ourselves, and answer questions you may never have thought to ask. Including why turkeys need to be cold and how pies came to be humble.

Exploring the gardens, monuments, museums, and churches with walks both urban and rural, from the Bronte parsonage in Haworth to Zadie Smith's North London and Shakespeare's Stratford, The Book Lover's Bucket List takes you through some 100 wonderfully described literary sites and landscapes, complete with colour destination photographs and illustrations from the British Library collections. Start with Chaucer, Dickens and Larkin in Westminster Abbey. Spend an afternoon at Colliers Wood Nature Reserve in Nottinghamshire and take in the lake D. H. Lawrence described as 'all grey and visionary, stretching into the moist, translucent vista of trees and meadow'. Venture south to Cornwall and work your way up to the Scottish Highlands, taking detours to Northern Ireland in the west and Norfolk in the east - or simply drop in on the place nearest to you. Wherever you are in the United Kingdom, you're never far from something associated with a good book.

How Thor Lost his Thunder is the first major English-language study of early medieval evidence for the Old Norse god, Thor. In this book, the most common modern representations of Thor are examined, such as images of him wreathed in lightning, and battling against monsters and giants. The origins of these images within Iron Age and early medieval evidence are then uncovered and investigated. In doing so, the common cultural history of Thor's cult and mythology is explored and some of his lesser known traits are revealed, including a possible connection to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in Iceland. This geographically and chronologically far-reaching study considers the earliest sources in which Thor appears, including in evidence from the Viking colonies of the British Isles and in Scandinavian folklore. Through tracing the changes and variety that has occurred in Old Norse mythology over time, this book provokes a questioning of the fundamental popular and scholarly beliefs about Thor for the first time since the Victorian era, including whether he really was a thunder god and whether worshippers truly believed they would encounter him in the afterlife. Considering evidence from across northern Europe, How Thor Lost his Thunder challenges modern scholarship's understanding of the god and of the northern pantheon as a whole and is ideal for scholars and students of mythology, and the history and religion of medieval Scandinavia.

This is the third edition of the "ECERS-E", formerly called "Assessing Quality in the Early Years: Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale" ("ECERS-E"). The ECERS-E is an instrument for measuring quality in literacy, numeracy, science and diversity as observable in pre-school in relation to child cognitive and social/behavioural developmental outcomes for children age 3-5. This new update of the 2003 publication has more extensive notes, derived from feedback from extensive use of the instrument by practitioners in hundreds of settings and from local authority early years specialists. The ECERS-E complements the Early Childhood Rating Scales-Revised (ECERS-R), an internationally recognised measure of quality in education and care. Originally devised as a research tool, the scales are used increasingly by Local Authorities during audits to determine and improve the quality of provision, and by practitioners seeking to improve their practice through professional development. This practical handbook offers detailed guidance on providing a quality environment in which young children and their learning can flourish. Kathy Sylva is Professor of Educational Psychology at University of Oxford. She has researched extensively in the education and care of young children. Iram Siraj-Blatchford is Professor of Early Childhood at the Institute of Education, University of London. Her research interests include early childhood curriculum and pedagogy. She has published widely on issues of Early Childhood quality and equality. Brenda Taggart is the Research Co-ordinator of the Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE) project at the Institute of Education, University of London. Her background is in primary education and research.

'Will do for grammar what Eats Shoots and Leaves did for punctuation' - The Times _______________________ A runaway hit and Sunday Times bestseller in 2008, My Grammar and I has continued to grow in popularity, becoming the go-to guide for grammar. My Grammar and I offers amusing examples of awful grammar, while steering you in the direction of grammatical greatness. Taking you on a tour of the English language through the minefield of rules and conditions that can catch you out, from dangling modifiers to split infinitives, it highlights the common pitfalls that every English language user faces on a day to day basis. Refreshing everything you should have learnt at school and more, My Grammar and I is informative yet entertaining: a must-have reference guide for any English language enthusiast.

'See if you can tell your Tantalus from your Tacitus!' - The Daily Telegraph 'This book aims to fill you in on the stuff you wish you'd been taught at school' - The Times ______________________ A Classical Education is a must-have for anyone feeling let down by modern schooling. How many times have you wished that your history stretched all the way back to Greek and Roman myths and legends? Or that you'd been taught Latin at school? Or perhaps you wish you knew all about the great inventions and medical developments that have made our world what it is today? A Classical Education provides all of these classical facts that modern schooling leaves out, and many more. Perfect for parents who wish to broaden their children's education, as well as for those who would simply like to learn or relearn the facts themselves, A Classical Education is informative and educational, but above all accessible. Subjects include: Latin and Greek; Logic and philosophy; Natural sciences; Art and architecture; Poetry and drama; History and Classical literature.

'Caroline Taggart has carved out a niche for herself in user-friendly, wittily written factual books.' - Yorkshire Post ______________________ In this highly entertaining book, language enthusiast and Sunday Times best-selling author Caroline Taggart browses through thousands of years of history to shed light on why we use the words and phrases we do. Arranged by themes including food, the household, childhood, romance and more, this intriguing book looks at the origins of our language from their historical context. For example, did you know that: If you rest on your laurels, you're imitating a complacent Roman general? If you eavesdrop, you're likely to get wet? If you're taken aback, you should, strictly speaking, be a sailing ship? If you're galvanized into action, you're behaving like Frankenstein's monster? From blue-blooded (an invention of aristocratic Spaniards) to limelight (a way of lighting Victorian theatres), passing an exam with flying colours (another image from sailing ships) to winning hands down (from horse racing), Humble Pie and Cold Turkey will answer questions you may never have thought to ask. Including why turkeys need to be cold and how pies came to be humble.

A re-issue of the popular 2017 hardback edition, The Accidental Apostrophe. ____________________________________ The trouble with punctuation - well, one of the troubles, anyway - is that too many of the experts suggest leaving it to the writer's judgement. What use is that if you've simply never been taught the difference between a colon and a semicolon, or where those wretched apostrophes go? 'Engagingly written, the book is highly readable and will make you think about the way you use punctuation - and that's got to be a good thing' - Parents in Touch ____________________________________ Caroline Taggart, who has made a name for herself expounding on the subjects of grammar, usage and words generally (and who for decades made her living putting in the commas in other people's work), takes her usual gently humorous approach to punctuation. She points out what matters and what doesn't; why using six exclamation marks where one will do is perfectly OK in a text but will lose you marks at school; why hang glider pilots in training really need a hyphen; and how throwing in the odd semicolon will impress your friends. Sometimes opinionated but never dogmatic, she is an ideal guide to the (perceived) minefield that is punctuation.

Off-grid isn t a state of mind. It isn t about someone being out of touch, about a place that is hard to get to, or about a weekend spent offline. Off-grid is the property of a building (generally a home but sometimes even a whole town) that is disconnected from the electricity and the natural gas grid. To live off-grid, therefore, means having to radically re-invent domestic life as we know it, and this is what this book is about: individuals and families who have chosen to live in that dramatically innovative, but also quite old, way of life.

This ethnography explores the day-to-day lives of people in each of Canada s provinces and territories living off the grid. Vannini and Taggart demonstrate how a variety of people, all with different environmental constraints, live away from contemporary civilization. The authors also raise important questions about our social future and whether off-grid living creates an environmentally and culturally sustainable lifestyle practice. These homes are experimental labs for our collective future, an intimate look into unusual contemporary domestic lives, and a call to the rest of us leading ordinary lives to examine what we take for granted. This book is ideal for courses on the environment and sustainability as well as introduction to sociology and introduction to cultural anthropology courses. "

Len Gregory is a law school student. As part of his elite law school's community outreach programme, he finds himself in a local high school several times a week passing on his own legal knowledge to the students in a course he teaches entitled Street Law. This book shows that passing on legal knowledge is not the only thing Len is doing in Street Law. He is also trying to get his students to talk and argue about the law in the same way that he does.

Len talks about legal matters using hypothetical, speculative scenarios played out by generic people - if people occur at all in his scenarios. The students, meanwhile, recount anecdotes inhabited by real people doing things in the real world. This book describes how Len and the Street Law students negotiate Len's language promotion project scheme, that is, how the students go along with or resist Len's promotion. The consequences of this negotiation are high: the abstract/speculative inquiry style promoted by Len carries social value - to be able to talk as Len does is to be able to talk as powerful members of society talk, and Len is offering the Street Law students access to that social capital. However, this book shows how the Street Law students identify abstract/speculative inquiry as being the talk of the (elite, white) Other - not, in other words, a way of talk that, by and large, utters their social identity. The book examines this negotiation and tension between learning economically powerful ways of talking in the larger social marketplace and maintaining an authentic local social identity.

Zippo lighters that advertised automobiles are featured here in 673 photographs and illustrations along with plenty of identifying information. These unique specimens of Americana were highly prized by their original owners and are appreciated with equal enthusiasm and respect by today's collectors. The logos and images of cars on the lighters range from familiar Fords and Chryslers to lesser-known Bricklins and Tuckers. Imports, trucks, and companies supporting the auto industry all are immortalized. These highly collectible Zippos date from mid-to-late twentieth century, the earliest being a 1938 model. Also included are histories of the Zippo company, insight on the automobile companies, tips for the care and restoration of lighters, and an examination of the decorating techniques. Current market values for the lighters shown are in the captions.

Early Childhood Matters documents the rapid development of early years education and care from the late 1990s into the new millennium. It chronicles the unique contribution of the EPPE research to our understanding of the importance of pre-school.

The Effective Pre-school and Primary Education (EPPE) project is the largest European study of the impact of early years education and care on children s developmental outcomes. Through this ground-breaking project a team of internationally-recognised experts provide insights into how home learning environments interact with pre-school and primary school experiences to shape children s progress.

The findings of this fascinating project:

• provide new evidence of the importance of early childhood experiences
• show how these experiences influence children s cognitive, social and behavioural development
• give new insights on the importance of early years education
• will be relevant to a wide audience who are interested in policy development, early years education and care, and effectiveness research
• examine how the combined effects of pre-school, primary school and the family interact to shape children s educational outcomes.

This insightful book is essential reading for all those interested in innovative research methodology and policy development in early childhood education and care. It provides new evidence on good practice in early years settings and will have a wide appeal for students and those engaged in providing accredited courses of study at a range of levels in early childhood.

Early Childhood Matters documents the rapid development of early years education and care from the late 1990s into the new millennium. It chronicles the unique contribution of the EPPE research to our understanding of the importance of pre-school.

The Effective Pre-school and Primary Education (EPPE) project is the largest European study of the impact of early years education and care on children's developmental outcomes. Through this ground-breaking project a team of internationally-recognised experts provide insights into how home learning environments interact with pre-school and primary school experiences to shape children's progress.

The findings of this fascinating project:

• provide new evidence of the importance of early childhood experiences
• show how these experiences influence children's cognitive, social and behavioural development
• give new insights on the importance of early years education
• will be relevant to a wide audience who are interested in policy development, early years education and care, and 'effectiveness' research
• examine how the combined effects of pre-school, primary school and the family interact to shape children's educational outcomes.

This insightful book is essential reading for all those interested in innovative research methodology and policy development in early childhood education and care. It provides new evidence on good practice in early years settings and will have a wide appeal for students and those engaged in providing accredited courses of study at a range of levels in early childhood.

A series of EU accession referendums were held in nine candidate countries, eight post-communist states and Malta, between March and September 2003. These referendums provide us with an excellent comparative opportunity to deepen our understanding of the European integration issue and how it interacts with domestic politics, and of the dynamics of referendums in general and referendums on the European issue in particular. This book therefore provides a set of focused comparisons between these different cases. Each of the individual chapters provides an authoritative analysis of the referendum campaign and outcome in each of the countries concerned by a leading specialist on the politics of that country.
This book was previously published as a special issue of the journal West European Politics.

A series of EU accession referendums were held in nine candidate countries, eight post-communist states and Malta, between March and September 2003. These referendums provide us with an excellent comparative opportunity to deepen our understanding of the European integration issue and how it interacts with domestic politics, and of the dynamics of referendums in general and referendums on the European issue in particular. This book therefore provides a set of focused comparisons between these different cases. Each of the individual chapters provides an authoritative analysis of the referendum campaign and outcome in each of the countries concerned by a leading specialist on the politics of that country.
This book was previously published as a special issue of the journal West European Politics.

CRESTFALLEN at CHICANERY and CIRCUMLOCUTION? Have no TRUCK with TOMFOOLERY and TRUMPERY? Or OMNISCIENT about OBLOQUIES and OPSIMATHS?

Whether you've answered yes, no or 'sorry, I didn't catch that', 500 Beautiful Words You Should Know is for you. It offers words that flow EXQUISITELY off the tongue; words that are just perfect for their meaning, like the lazy-sounding SLOTH and the heavy-footed GALUMPH; words that will make you sound clever, like DEUTERAGONIST and LETHOLOGICA; and words that are just fun to say, like LIQUEFACTION and LUXURIATE.

It'll tell you where they come from, how to use them and whether you're likely to BAMBOOZLE anyone who's listening to you. With occasional special features on great words for colours, words from the Classics and words that make you laugh, this is a book to delight BIBLIOPHILES and BLATHERSKITES alike.

Len Gregory is a law school student. As part of his elite law school's community outreach programme, he finds himself in a local high school several times a week passing on his own legal knowledge to the students in a course he teaches entitled Street Law. This book shows that passing on legal knowledge is not the only thing Len is doing in Street Law. He is also trying to get his students to talk and argue about the law in the same way that he does. Len talks about legal matters using hypothetical, speculative scenarios played out by generic people - if people occur at all in his scenarios. The students, meanwhile, recount anecdotes inhabited by real people doing things in the real world. This book describes how Len and the Street Law students negotiate Len's language promotion project scheme, that is, how the students go along with or resist Len's promotion. The consequences of this negotiation are high: the abstract/speculative inquiry style promoted by Len carries social value - to be able to talk as Len does is to be able to talk as powerful members of society talk, and Len is offering the Street Law students access to that social capital. However, this book shows how the Street Law students identify abstract/speculative inquiry as being the talk of the (elite, white) Other - not, in other words, a way of talk that, by and large, utters their social identity. The book examines this negotiation and tension between learning economically powerful ways of talking in the larger social marketplace and maintaining an authentic local social identity.

'This is a fascinating book ... it will no doubt be a great source of entertainment around many a dinner table' - She Magazine ______________________________ A Sunday Times top-ten title in 2008 and a bestseller ever since, I Used to Know That has continued to delight readers with its pages of forgotten facts from our school days. I Used to Know That is an ideal and accessible reference guide for adults wanting to brush up on their lost knowledge - or prepare for a pub quiz! If you've forgotten the capital city of Chile; the basics of osmosis; how to solve a quadratic equation; who wrote the famous poem about daffodils; the use of a conjunction or the number of continents in the world, I Used to Know That is guaranteed to provide all the answers.

Trying to juggle multiple responsibilities while keeping up with endless to-do lists and trying to balance family, work, social and personal time can be overwhelming and lead to burn out. This journal is just the thing to help manage daily stress and quell anxiety so it doesn't build up over time. Creating the space for a simple daily routine of reflection and intention can do wonders to calm inner chaos when the outside world starts to take over. Anyone seeking inner balance, harmony and tranquility will make this journal a habit. It won't solve problems, but it will do wonders for those in need of some peace of mind. It is a great addition to any self care self-care arsenal. A creative way to practice self-care * Easy-to-follow prompts help with goal setting, reflection, intention and planning * Simple layout with lots of room for writing * Encourages happiness habits Fans of The Five Minute Journal: A Happier You in 5 Minutes a Day and Find Calm in The Chaos: A Writing Prompt Journal with Positive Prompts to Calm the Mindwill love this journal. * An inspirational gift for anyone who likes to journal * A lovely gift for harried parents, stressed-out students and anyone who could use a break * A perfect gift for overwhelmed loved ones

LAMBDA LITERARY OCTOBER'S MOST ANTICIPATED LGBTQIA+ LITERATURE Is love real if the beloved isn't? Girl, Interrupted meets Rebecca in this taut tale of love and madness When Tia meets Pacifique, it's a once-in-a-lifetime love. They spend five wild days and nights together, and then Tia wakes up in an ambulance with a collarbone broken in a bike accident - and no trace of Pacifique. Unable to convince anyone that Pacifique exists, Tia winds up in a psychiatric ward, forced to face the possibility that this perfect lover may be a figment of her imagination. While there, Tia meets Andrew, a contemplative man with schizophrenia, who falls in love with Tia. He, too, tells her to forget Pacifique. Who to believe? The medical establishment and her fellow patients? Or her frail human memory? And if Pacifique truly is a figment, is life in the "real world" with Andrew enough? "In concise and vibrant prose, Sarah L. Taggart illuminates the dark corners of delusion (or is it delusion?) and a mental-health system that consigns people to endless limbo. Lucid and destabilizing, graceful and raw, this novel asks: is losing one's sanity so different from falling in love?" - Deborah Willis, author of The Dark and Other Love Stories "Pacifique turns the psychological thriller on its head, allowing madness to be a meaningful lens through which to see the world instead of a cheap plot twist. Taggart has created a stunning, smart and revolutionary novel here - one that forces its readers to see clearly what so often remains hidden. This book means so much to me. One of the best I've read in years." - Alicia Elliott, author of A Mind Spread Out On The Ground

For anyone overwhelmed by the stresses of daily life, this book is a simple tool to promote calm and well-being. Here are 65 soothing pages, each featuring an encouraging mantra and a short practice, including exercises for mindfulness, self-care, awareness, grounding, gratitude, and more. Users can pull one page each morning to center themselves, or pick a few at a time to set a bigger intention for the week. Calm the Chaos make it easy to foster moments of peace and clarity, anytime and anywhere.

• A CREATIVE WAY TO PRACTICE SELF-CARE: Manage daily stress, quell anxiety, and build happiness habits with the 65 pages in this book.
• CULTIVATE MORE MINDFULNESS: This book will help you practice daily reflection, record gratitude, and set achievable goals.
• USE DAILY, WEEKLY, OR WHENEVER YOU NEED CALM: Open this book each morning to find a mantra and inspiration for your day, or choose one page a week to set a larger intention.

Ireland has a great diversity of beautiful landscapes. Photographer John Taggart has captured the island’s essence in this collection of stunning images. With rugged mountains and peaceful lakes, quiet rural locations, breathtaking coastline and islands, world heritage sites and National Parks, ancient castles, historic towns and cities, as well as thousands of years of culture which has influenced the rest of Europe, Ireland in Photographs displays Ireland at its best. For those who are proud to live in Ireland, as well as those visiting, this book is a must. Look through these photographs and you will quickly see why the landscape of Ireland has such enduring appeal.