The Gift of the Gab

Author: David Crystal
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300219415
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
We all know eloquence when we hear it. But what exactly is it? And how might we gain more of it for ourselves? This entertaining and, yes, eloquent book illuminates the power of language from a linguistic point of view and provides fascinating insights into the way we use words. David Crystal, a world-renowned expert on the history and usage of the English language, probes the intricate workings of eloquence. His lively analysis encompasses everyday situations (wedding speeches, business presentations, storytelling) as well as the oratory of great public gatherings. Crystal focuses on the here and now of eloquent speaking—from pitch, pace, and prosody to jokes, appropriateness, and how to wield a microphone. He explains what is going on moment by moment and examines each facet of eloquence. He also investigates topics such as the way current technologies help or hinder our verbal powers, the psychological effects of verbal excellence, and why certain places or peoples are thought to be more eloquent than others. In the core analysis of the book, Crystal offers an extended and close dissection of Barack Obama’s electrifying “Yes we can” speech of 2008, in which the president demonstrated full mastery of virtually every element of eloquence—from the simple use of parallelism and an awareness of what not to say, to his brilliant conclusion constructed around two powerful words: dreams and answers.

Gift of the Gab

Author: Morris Gleitzman
Publisher: Penguin Group Australia
ISBN: 1760142174
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Book Description
It's a normal week for Rowena Batts. A car full of stewed apples. A police cell. A struggle to keep Dad off national TV. Then her world turns upside down.

The Gift of the Gab

Author: Hory Sankar Mukerjee
Publisher: SAGE Publications Pvt. Limited
ISBN: 9789353286804
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
The trick of moving from ‘average’ to ‘outstanding’ lies in ‘communication’. When you are able to articulate, present and write better than others, you move into the extraordinary league. While most of us agree to these positive effects of communication, we conveniently ignore the downside of communication breakdown, which can lead to stunted professional growth. The Gift of the Gab: The Subtle Art of Communicating will help you develop a communication strategy that can lead to improvements in your working style. Choosing the right words, listening well and getting your message across eloquently are skills that can be perfected. By changing your communication strategy you can increase your motivation, and improve your productivity and profitability at work. This book is a corporate guide that can help you become the person you aspire to be.

The Introvert’s Edge to Networking

Author: Matthew Pollard
Publisher: HarperCollins Leadership
ISBN: 1400216699
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 254

Book Description
One of the biggest myths that plagues the business world today is that our ability to network depends on having the “gift-of-gab.” You don’t have to be outgoing to be successful at networking. You don’t have to become a relentless self-promoter. In fact, you don’t have to act like an extrovert at all. The truth is that when introverts are armed with a plan that lets them be their authentic selves, they make the best networkers. Matthew Pollard, an introvert himself, draws on over a decade of research and real-world examples to provide an actionable blueprint for introverted networking. A sequel to Pollard’s international bestseller The Introvert’s Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone, this book masterfully confronts the stigma around the so-called extroverted arena of networking. In The Introvert’s Edge to Networking, you’ll discover how to: Overcome your fear and discomfort when networking Turn networking into a repeatable system Leverage your innate introverted strengths Target and connect with top influencers Leverage the power of virtual and social networking The introvert’s roadmap to success doesn’t look like the extroverts, we’re different and we should embrace that. Whether you’re a small business owner struggling to make a living or a professional who’s hit a career plateau, The Introvert’s Edge to Networking is your path to a higher income and a rolodex of powerful connections.

Do You Talk Funny?

Author: David Nihill
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1942952287
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Book Description
Public speaking can be terrifying. For David Nihill, the idea of standing in front of an audience was scarier than cliff jumping into a thorny pit of spiders and mothers-in-law. Without a parachute or advanced weaponry. Something had to change. In what doesn't sound like the best plan ever, David decided to overcome his fears by pretending to be an accomplished comedian called "Irish Dave" for one full year, crashing as many comedy clubs, festivals, and shows as possible. One part of the plan was at least logical: he was already Irish and already called Dave. In one year, David went from being deathly afraid of public speaking to hosting a business conference, regularly performing stand-up comedy and winning storytelling competitions in front of packed houses. And he did it by learning from some of the best public speakers in the world: stand-up comedians. Do You Talk Funny?: 7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker shows how the key principles of stand-up comedy can be applied to your speaking engagements and presentations to make you funnier, more interesting, and better looking. (Or at least two of the three.) Whether you are preparing for a business presentation, giving a wedding toast, defending your thesis, raising money from investors, or simply want to take on something you're afraid of, this book will take you from sweaty to stage-ready. You'll learn how to: - Craft a story and content that your audience will want to listen to - Find the funniest parts of your material and how to get to them faster - Deal with stage fright - Master the two most important parts of your performance: timing and delivery Ten percent of the author's proceeds from this book will go to Arash Bayatmakou via Help Hope Live until he is fully back on his feet and thereafter to one of the many facing the same challenges after suffering a severe spinal cord injury.

Playing God

Author: Andy Crouch
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830837655
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Book Description
With Playing God, Andy Crouch opens the subject of power, elucidating its subtle activity in our relationships and institutions. He gives us much more than a warning against abuse, though. Turning the notion of "playing God" on its head, Crouch celebrates power as the gift by which we join in God's creative, redeeming work in the world.

God Is in the Kitchen

Author: Ginger Estavillo Umali
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 151271142X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 366

Book Description
God reaches out to where you are. He isnt cooped up in church, glued to the pews, detached from what matters most to you. Hes bustling through your crowded schedule, flagging you down, waving until you take notice and give pause. He speaks even while youre in the middle of a vegetable-slicing, dinner-prepping, multi-tasking moment. The God who is interested in your comings and goings, weaves through your routines to grab your attention. He has invaded your kitchen space and is cooking up a feast for you. Whats on the menu? Generous helpings of love and mercy, seasoned to perfection with His grace. Hes ready to serve you a platter of patience and integrity, but not until theyre roasted through suffering. He has bowls of sweet comfort for the grief-stricken and stillness for the frazzled. God is in the Kitchen invites you to a serendipitous discovery to broaden your awareness of Gods not-so-hidden intervention in the ordinary. Dont watch out for big miracles alone. God peppers even the most drab, yawn-inducing day with little surprises. You only need eyes of faith to spot them. God is busy in the kitchen. Guess what Hes whipping up for you?

Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh

Author: John Lahr
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393247120
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 452

Book Description
National Book Critics Circle Award Winner: Biography Category National Book Award Finalist 2015 Winner of the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award A Chicago Tribune 'Best Books of 2014' USA Today: 10 Books We Loved Reading Washington Post, 10 Best Books of 2014 The definitive biography of America's greatest playwright from the celebrated drama critic of The New Yorker. John Lahr has produced a theater biography like no other. Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh gives intimate access to the mind of one of the most brilliant dramatists of his century, whose plays reshaped the American theater and the nation's sense of itself. This astute, deeply researched biography sheds a light on Tennessee Williams's warring family, his guilt, his creative triumphs and failures, his sexuality and numerous affairs, his misreported death, even the shenanigans surrounding his estate. With vivid cameos of the formative influences in Williams's life—his fierce, belittling father Cornelius; his puritanical, domineering mother Edwina; his demented sister Rose, who was lobotomized at the age of thirty-three; his beloved grandfather, the Reverend Walter Dakin—Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh is as much a biography of the man who created A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as it is a trenchant exploration of Williams’s plays and the tortured process of bringing them to stage and screen. The portrait of Williams himself is unforgettable: a virgin until he was twenty-six, he had serial homosexual affairs thereafter as well as long-time, bruising relationships with Pancho Gonzalez and Frank Merlo. With compassion and verve, Lahr explores how Williams's relationships informed his work and how the resulting success brought turmoil to his personal life. Lahr captures not just Williams’s tempestuous public persona but also his backstage life, where his agent Audrey Wood and the director Elia Kazan play major roles, and Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Bette Davis, Maureen Stapleton, Diana Barrymore, and Tallulah Bankhead have scintillating walk-on parts. This is a biography of the highest order: a book about the major American playwright of his time written by the major American drama critic of his time.

Finding My Irish

Author: Sharon Shea Bossard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
The author and her husband journey to Ireland in search of her Irish roots. Discovered are centuries-old family cottages, untold secrets, and heartbreaking accounts of lives rife with hardships, unhappiness, and fierce family pride. Join the author and her husband as they journey through the towns of Cahersiveen, Ballinskelligs, Valentia, and Boyle in their relentless pursuit of family. Follow in the footsteps of her grandparents from Ireland to Connecticut and to the cowboy town of South Omaha in the late 1800s. Travel to the more modern city of Chicago at the turn of the century. An incredibly touching family story; you won't be able to put it down.

Cat Bearing Gifts

Author: Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062200313
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Book Description
A car crash, stolen treasure, a dead thief, and a blonde divorcée have a feline P.I. and his four-legged cohorts clawing for justice in this cozy mystery. On the twisting road home from San Francisco, tortoiseshell Kit and her elderly housemates, Lucinda and Pedric Greenlaw, are hurt in a terrible car crash. The accident is terrifying enough, but then two dangerous men steal the Greenlaw’s town car, making off with a hoard of jewels and gold carefully hidden in the car. As paramedics rush the Greenlaws to the emergency room, a badly shaken Kit hides from hungry coyotes, waiting for Joe and their human friends to rescue her. Back home in Molena Point, Joe Grey and his tabby lady prowl an abandoned stone cottage where they’ve discovered two rough-looking men hiding. Determined to help the Greenlaws, Kit follows the two housebreakers: one badly injured, the other eager to end his partner’s misery in order to make off with more wealth than he realizes. But the cat’s investigation is in trouble as they claw their way to the truth, hoping that tomcat Misto and his unfailing memory might provide some answers to their questions. Praise for Cat Bearing Gifts “Talking cat fans will welcome Murphy’s exciting 18th mystery featuring feline Joe Grey. . . . Anyone unfamiliar with this cozy series will be quickly drawn in by the complete believability of Murphy’s crime-solving felines and their helpful human companions.” —Publishers Weekly