Book cover of The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names

Book description

'Who would have thought that a book about Latin names could be quite so compelling!' Alan Titchmarsh 'Nature writing at its best: insightful, entertaining and often very funny' British Wildlife Latin names - frequently unpronounceable, all too often wrong and always a tiny puzzle to unravel - have been annoying…

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1 author picked The Naming of the Shrew as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I’ll admit that I’m fiercely jealous of this book’s title, which is clever and à propos (but now, thanks to Wright, it’s taken). But the book is also delightful.

It’s a history of scientific naming, more or less, but Wright has a ton of fun with that. He asks how plants were named in ancient Assyria and Greece, winds his way through the Middle Ages, and continues to the present day. Does that sound dry? It isn’t—I chortled at the discussion of rude Latin names (Geastrum fornicatum, anyone?), and giggled at Wright’s appropriately disrespectful take on the modern…

From Stephen's list on stories about naming and language.

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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