Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words

Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words
Author :
Publisher : Random House Australia
Total Pages : 418
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781740513661
ISBN-13 : 1740513665
Rating : 4/5 (61 Downloads)

Synopsis Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words by : Don Watson

The brilliant and bestselling companion volume to Don Watson's Death Sentence The prime minister speaks of core and non-core election promises, your boss asks you to commit to an involuntary career event (you're fired), and hospitals refer to negative patient outcomes (you're dead) - How to fight back? This book is a heavy weapon against politicians, managers and all those whose words kill brain cells and sink hearts. Striking a much-needed blow for truth and clarity, here is Don Watson, author of the international bestseller Death Sentence, at his sobering, scathing and wickedly funny best.

Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words, Contemporary Clichés, Cant & Management Jargon

Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words, Contemporary Clichés, Cant & Management Jargon
Author :
Publisher : Random House (Australia)
Total Pages : 376
Release :
ISBN-10 : UOM:39015060821678
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (78 Downloads)

Synopsis Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words, Contemporary Clichés, Cant & Management Jargon by : Don Watson

A much-requested companion volume to DEATH SENTENCE and appealing to the same market. A book for people who really want to know what a 'six step reframe' and 'ratchet compulsion blow-out' are, and for those who want to mock the very idea. A useful handbook and guide to modern managerial language, newspeak, and linguistic political chicanery; and also an essential reference for victims and saboteurs. A book, like Death Sentence, both serious and amusing - in fact more serious and more amusing. Sludge-mongers, weasels, fog-merchants and charlatans beware: Don Watson is back to take a blowtorch to the bellies of those whose words kill meaning and challenge sanity.

Death Sentences

Death Sentences
Author :
Publisher : Gotham
Total Pages : 212
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1592402054
ISBN-13 : 9781592402052
Rating : 4/5 (54 Downloads)

Synopsis Death Sentences by : Don Watson

From one of Australia's best-known writers and public intellectuals comes a funny and profound polemic about the sorry state of public language and what can--and must--be done about it.

Death Sentence

Death Sentence
Author :
Publisher : Random House Australia
Total Pages : 213
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781742744643
ISBN-13 : 1742744648
Rating : 4/5 (43 Downloads)

Synopsis Death Sentence by : Don Watson

Part diatribe, part cool reflection on the state of Australia’s public language, Don Watson’s Death Sentence is scathing, funny and brilliant. ‘ ... in public life the language has never been held in less regard. It withers in the dungeons of the technocratic mind. It is butchered by the media. In politics it lacks all qualifications for the main game.’ Almost sixty years ago, George Orwell described the decay of language and why this threatened democratic society. But compared to what we now endure, the public language of Orwell's day brimmed with life and truth. Today's corporations, government departments, news media, and, perhaps most dangerously, politicians – speak to each other and to us in cliched, impenetrable, lifeless sludge. Don Watson can bear it no longer. In Death Sentence, part diatribe, part cool reflection on the state of Australia's public language, he takes a blowtorch to the words – and their users – who kill joy, imagination and clarity. Scathing, funny and brilliant, Death Sentence is a small book of profound weight – and timeliness.

The Bush

The Bush
Author :
Publisher : Penguin Group Australia
Total Pages : 455
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781742537870
ISBN-13 : 1742537871
Rating : 4/5 (70 Downloads)

Synopsis The Bush by : Don Watson

Most Australians live in cities and cling to the coastal fringe, yet our sense of what an Australian is – or should be – is drawn from the vast and varied inland called the bush. But what do we mean by 'the bush', and how has it shaped us? Starting with his forebears' battle to drive back nature and eke a living from the land, Don Watson explores the bush as it was and as it now is: the triumphs and the ruination, the commonplace and the bizarre, the stories we like to tell about ourselves and the national character, and those we don't. Via mountain ash and mallee, the birds and the beasts, slaughter, fire, flood and drought, swagmen, sheep and their shepherds, the strange and the familiar, the tragedies and the follies, the crimes and the myths and the hope – here is a journey that only our leading writer of non-fiction could take us on. At once magisterial in scope and alive with telling, wry detail, The Bush lets us see our landscape and its inhabitants afresh, examining what we have made, what we have destroyed, and what we have become in the process. No one who reads it will look at this country the same way again. 'Nothing he has written quite matches the wonders of The Bush . . . There is no dull page or even lifeless sentence between its covers and my urge is that if anyone wants a full blast of what Australia is, was, or might be, thrust The Bush into their hands. Watson seems to have been preparing to write it all his life, from when he was a small boy (born 1949) open to wonders on his family's Gippsland dairy farm . . . It's the unalloyed wonder of that small boy . . . that guides the reader most of all . . . a fountaining freshness of spirit that gives everything he sees and does the vivacity of being sighted for the first time.' Roger McDonald, The Age 'Flawlessly elegant writing . . . But this is excellent, hard-headed history, too . . . Utterly mesmerising and entrancing . . . A challenge to contemplate what it really is about this country that makes us who we think we are . . . A literary-historical odyssey.' Paul Daley, The Guardian (Australia) 'A loving rumination on Australia, the landmass, and those who live on it and from it . . . Watson refuses to be captured by easy categorisations or received opinion . . . The writing is crisp, witty and sardonic . . . Watson is an original, with an authentic, prophetic voice.' John Hirst, The Monthly 'An overwhelmingly affectionate portrait, one that's never sentimental or indulgently nostalgic, and one that defiantly resists lamentation . . . There is no doubt that The Bush stands with Bill Gammage's The Biggest Estate on Earth as one of the most important books published on the history of this country in recent years . . . The Bush is the crown in Watson's oeuvre, a magnificent, sprawling ode to the best in Australia, a challenge to us all to find new ways of loving the country.' The Saturday Paper 'Don Watson's magnificent, celebratory, contradictory study of the Australian bush will challenge the national imagination . . . An amiable, learned, playful and engrossing book . . . [A] great, succulent magic pudding of a book . . . Most of what we read is nothing like we would have expected . . . There is a sense that an amiable and eloquent uncle is telling us everything piquant he knows about theology and culture and land use and the beasts and flora and families of the bush.' Thomas Keneally, Weekend Australian 'The power of this book does come from the way Watson positions himself as both an insider and outsider to the Australian bush . . . A meditation on Australia itself through a reflection on the bush.' Frank Bongiorno, Australian Book Review 'A sprawling, fascinating book . . . Watson has pulled off a marvel, a book that educates and fascinates at the same time as it calls for action to preserve some things before they're lost. The best part, though, is his prose: bare and dry, with a dark sense of humour. A bit like the country he's describing.' Margot Lloyd, The Advertiser (Adelaide) 'Every now and again a book comes out that is so groundbreaking it causes you to think about a particular subject in a radically different light. Don Watson's The Bush: Travels in The Heart of Australia is one such work; a masterpiece of research, inquiry and poetry that challenges our basic assumptions of the Outback. Watson . . . has pulled off a dazzling achievement with The Bush, blending philosophy with science and storytelling . . . A beautifully written and thoughtful book.' Johanna Leggatt, Weekly Times 'Elegant, intricate, sprawling and sometimes harsh . . . [Watson] explores the bush with a mix of academic insight and campfire yarn . . . In a word: hypnotic.' Jeff Maynard, Herald Sun 'His romantic prose moves seamlessly through autobiographical tales to discuss the landscapes and histories that have shaped Australia.' National Geographic 'One of my favourite reads this year. What a writer he is . . . You find yourself sneaking off from others to be with it.' Kathleen Noonan, Courier-Mail 'Vast in scope, richly sourced, soaring and poetic, this journey to the heart of Australia has been rightly compared in significance to Bill Gammage's The Biggest Estate on Earth.' Barbara Farrelly, South Coast Register 'The Bush is his homage to Australia's mythic hinterland. Watson travels through the Mallee and the Murray-Darling, to WA's wheat belt and beyond, meeting people, talking, listening. Good writing that engages with Australia's past is a rare beast, too often bound up in the need for ''balance''. Watson has the freedom to ignore the rules; he allows himself to opine and he yarns at will. A delightful read.' Mark MacLean, Newcastle Herald

The War Between Mentalism and Behaviorism

The War Between Mentalism and Behaviorism
Author :
Publisher : Psychology Press
Total Pages : 218
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781135666002
ISBN-13 : 1135666008
Rating : 4/5 (02 Downloads)

Synopsis The War Between Mentalism and Behaviorism by : William R. Uttal

This book examines the question--are mental processes accessible-- within the context of reviewing the past, present, and desirable future of behaviorism.

Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower?

Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower?
Author :
Publisher : Sceptre
Total Pages : 0
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1444781839
ISBN-13 : 9781444781830
Rating : 4/5 (39 Downloads)

Synopsis Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower? by : Steven Poole

Does the phrase 'going forward' make you sick to the back teeth? Does the idea of a 'nurture bubble' make your blood boil? Steven Poole takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the meaningless corporate jargon that irritates employees up and down the country.

Watson's Dictionary Of Weasel Words

Watson's Dictionary Of Weasel Words
Author :
Publisher : Random House Australia
Total Pages : 480
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781742744667
ISBN-13 : 1742744664
Rating : 4/5 (67 Downloads)

Synopsis Watson's Dictionary Of Weasel Words by : Don Watson

The brilliant and bestselling companion volume to Don Watson's Death Sentence The prime minister speaks of core and non-core election promises, your boss asks you to commit to an involuntary career event (you're fired), and hospitals refer to negative patient outcomes (you're dead) – How to fight back? This book is a heavy weapon against politicians, managers and all those whose words kill brain cells and sink hearts. Striking a much-needed blow for truth and clarity, here is Don Watson, author of the international bestseller Death Sentence, at his sobering, scathing and wickedly funny best.

Recollections of a Bleeding Heart

Recollections of a Bleeding Heart
Author :
Publisher : Vintage
Total Pages : 772
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1741668271
ISBN-13 : 9781741668278
Rating : 4/5 (71 Downloads)

Synopsis Recollections of a Bleeding Heart by : Don Watson

If he had never become Prime Minister Paul Keating's place in Australian history would still have been assured. He was the Treasurer who deregulated the economy; the weaver of Labor's modern story; its heavy weapon in the parliament. He was also the great enigma - a self-educated boy from Sydney's working class and a defining element of the head-kicking Labor right who loved Paris, Mahler and Second Empire clocks. Paul Keating did become Prime Minister. In December 1991 he wrested it from Bob Hawke and the bruises from that struggle were part of the baggage he brought to the job: the other parts included the worst recession in 60 years and an electorate determined to make him pay for it. Keating defied the odds and won the 1993 election, and in his four years as Prime Minister set Australia on a new course - towards engagement with Asia, a republic, reconciliation, a social democracy built on a modern export-based economy and sophisticated public systems of education and training, health and social security. Widely regarded as a quintessential economic rationalist, Keating's record clearly shows that his vision was infinitely broader and more complex. Don Watson was employed as Keating's speechwriter. Though a 'bleeding heart' liberal trained in history rather than economics, he became an advisor and friend to Keating. RECOLLECTIONS OF A BLEEDING HEART - based on notes Watson kept through the four turbulent and exhausting years of Keating's Prime Ministership - is a frank, sympathetic and engrossing portrait of this brilliant and perplexing man, and a unique reflection on modern politics. Recollections of a Bleeding Heart by Don Watson Sample Chapter(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
Author :
Publisher : Penguin
Total Pages : 370
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781594483295
ISBN-13 : 1594483299
Rating : 4/5 (95 Downloads)

Synopsis The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Pulitzer Prize Winner) by : Junot Díaz

Winner of: The Pulitzer Prize The National Book Critics Circle Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Jon Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize A Time Magazine #1 Fiction Book of the Year One of the best books of 2007 according to: The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, People, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Salon, Baltimore City Paper, The Christian Science Monitor, Booklist, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, New York Public Library, and many more... Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love.