I am reading Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution
Paul Kay and Brent Berlin (1969). Their observation is that when a language has a limited number of color words, which colors are given priority is a fairly universal order of operations beginning with black and white, moving on to red and spreading out from there.
They have samples of words from dozens of languages and still manage to be biased by their western colonizer heritage. In the introduction where they explain their method they first equate number of basic color words with how evolved a given culture's society is. They later make a similar statement but replace society with level of industrialization.
Further more they exclude "borrowed" words from languages if those languages happen to be ones spoken by a colonized person. There is no similar discussion of borrowed words showing up in a colonizer language (English or Spanish for example).
I guess you could say it's a hobby, I like reading novels about children of divinity / siblings (or friends) of Jesus. At least the ones I've read have all been humorous.
From a bed in a bedroom, to a bathroom, to a mirror, to a kitchen, to a sink, to a stove. Through the vertical rectangles with a handle or a knob, into a garage, into a car. From the squared off edges of a parking lot, yellow and white lined squares within, into a office building. We live in a world of little boxes...
We spend so much of our time trying to use our time more effectively, more orderly. Trying to be more productive. More structured. Trying to streamline all our procesess. But what if the best of what we have to give, the best of what we have to offer, the best of what's inside us, might come out best through inefficiency?
As a species we specialize in calculating with and by what we can observe. Coordinates by which we measure all things. Four cardinal directions on a compass. An angular distance in a spherical system. But "a wealth of possibilities breads dread" Walter Kaufmann says. Couldn't it be condensed or simplified?...
There are two things that direct all my efforts. Two things I give all my time to. Two things I try so hard to be good and I just quite seem to do it. And then there’s Grant Snider who writes and makes art seamlessly.
Just finished The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (which I really enjoyed) and have now read twice the amount of books I set out to read in 2023! It’s been a good year for reading 📚 #Books#Reading#Bookstodon
#BookReview Narrated by H., a portrait painter, José Saramago's first novel depicts an artist's struggle to capture the real person behind the face and the frustration of being unable to do so.
H. has no illusions about the kind of work he turns out. His portraits show his clients as they want to be portrayed, but when S., a businessman, commissions a portrait H. also paints a secret second portrait to show the real S., but is dissatisfied with that one too. He then turns to words to capture S. as he is.
He begins by writing about their interactions and quickly expands to writing about his own life, politics, and artistic philosophy. What's most fascinating about this book is watching a great writer in the process of unfurling his new writerly butterfly wings.
First published in 1977, Manual of Painting and Calligraphy was published in the US in 2012 translated by Giovanni Pontiero.
Even bound and covered, books never stop releasing oxygen. Never stop planting seeds. Never stop taking root. They never stop trying to reach up and out. Never stop trying to branch and grow. They never stop trying to help us do the same.
Five stars: Overdue or Die by Allison Brook and Mia Gaskin (Narrator) (2023) is the seventh book in the Haunted Library mystery series. Carrie Singleton should be planning her wedding, or at least the engagement party, but she's preoccupied with the death of Martha Mallory, the woman who ran the local art gallery.
Randomly thinking about Elzabeth Hoyt, whose website is gone, and who hasn't been around online for three or so years; and about Lisa Kleypas, who hasn't updated her website since before the release of Devil in Disguise two years ago (in fact, her FAQ was updated while she was still writing Chasing Cassandra, which came out in 2020, so it's been at least a full year longer than that).
"I cannot write in any other way, and if I have thrown myself into this writing, it was precisely in order to give myself sufficient time to think, to think with time." - from José Saramago's first novel 'Manual of Painting and Calligraphy', translated by Giovanni Pontiero #SundaySentence#BookQuote#quotes#reading@bookstodon
When cultures differ on what it’s okay for kids to know (or see), what ends up in a book? Publishers self-censor to be safe…and to assure profit. Interesting POV from a translator of children’s books. #books#reading#illustration@bookstodon#libraries
Recently, I brought a #book from an online seller. I had to the return it due to the low level damage that it had suffered in transit. This is not the first time that this has happend. I have noticed a marked deterioration in the quality of packaging used to transport #books bought online. Before envelopes were used that had bubbled wrapping inside and gave some sort of protection. Now one has to be thankful if paying 'top dollar' for a brand new #book and it arrives without any minor scrapes especially if it is just stuck in a standard cardboard envelope.
@peachfront@bookstodon I know the feeling. I do not appreciate finding my package on the ground outside my home after the delivery driver has rung the door bell and quickly run away.