From the Intergalactic Space Station, Ali peered through the orbit meter set on Alexandria, Egypt around 2,000 years ago and began to sweat. Seeing the orange flames soaring higher and higher, he imagined the sound of crackling as the precious old parchments vanished. At hand was the very destruction of recorded knowledge! ?King Alexander the Great did not have this Library built to lose it now!?, he explained to the city fathers. He went on to suggest, ?What we know, once in the now burned books, must be written again creating books both new and old. We must find Zanzibar and his Zany Crew. My glimpse through the orbit meter/time machine reveals a future wherein the diffusion of the English language is as widespread as a fresh carpet of winter snow.' ?Hurray!?, they shouted, ?if many know English and we write so, the sentences, both new and old, may comprehensively grow!? This is a story recounted in a fanciful way using the true incident of the burning of the famous Library of Alexandria, Egypt, including its contents, more than two thousand years ago as a context. Joyfully in 2008, on the Egyptian coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the inauguration of the new Library of Alexandria was celebrated. The requirement of the Library to make available many texts, both new and old, is used in this book as a context for sharing the mechanics of English sentence construction. Join us as Zanzibar, appointed by the city leaders, finds the crew needed to construct and reconstruct the books, both new and old, of the ancient Library of Alexandria.

“Dictionary, n: A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.” Bierce’s groundbreaking Devil’s Dictionary had a complex publication history. Started in the mid-1800s as an irregular column in Californian newspapers under various titles, he gradually refined the new-at-the-time idea of an irreverent set of glossary-like definitions. The final name, as we see it titled in this work, did not appear until an 1881 column published in the periodical The San Francisco Illustrated Wasp. There were no publications of the complete glossary in the 1800s. Not until 1906 did a portion of Bierce’s collection get published by Doubleday, under the name The Cynic’s Word Book—the publisher not wanting to use the word “Devil” in the title, to the great disappointment of the author. The 1906 word book only went from A to L, however, and the remainder was never released under the compromised title. In 1911 the Devil’s Dictionary as we know it was published in complete form as part of Bierce’s collected works (volume 7 of 12), including the remainder of the definitions from M to Z. It has been republished a number of times, including more recent efforts where older definitions from his columns that never made it into the original book were included. Due to the complex nature of copyright, some of those found definitions have unclear public domain status and were not included. This edition of the book includes, however, a set of definitions attributed to his one-and-only “Demon’s Dictionary” column, including Bierce’s classic definition of A: “the first letter in every properly constructed alphabet.” Bierce enjoyed “quoting” his pseudonyms in his work. Most of the poetry, dramatic scenes and stories in this book attributed to others were self-authored and do not exist outside of this work. This includes the prolific Father Gassalasca Jape, whom he thanks in the preface—“jape” of course having the definition: “a practical joke.” This book is a product of its time and must be approached as such. Many of the definitions hold up well today, but some might be considered less palatable by modern readers. Regardless, the book’s humorous style is a valuable snapshot of American culture from past centuries. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

12 Striking Animal Portraits to Complete--Sticker by Sticker Are you ready for a new, exciting challenge that will take your observation skills and artistic pursuits to a whole new level? Then Animetrics is for you. Inside the pages of this innovative book, you'll discover 12 animal portraits to complete with geometric sticker shapes. The numbered shapes on each page can be filled with the corresponding stickers to create sophisticated works of art that will amaze and astound you. Ten pages of sticker shapes at the back of the book lead you on a quest to complete gorgeous portraits of animals ranging from lions to birds and beyond. Intricate, complex, and absorbing, you'll spend hours piecing together these sticker puzzles and creating something beautiful and unforgettable.

Hal Wallis might not be as well known as David O. Selznick or Samuel Goldwyn, but the films he produced -- Casablanca, Jezebel, Now Voyager, The Life of Emile Zola, Becket, True Grit, and many other classics (as well as scores of Elvis movies) -- have certainly endured. As producer of numerous films, Wallis made an indelible mark on the course of America's film industry, but his contributions are often overlooked and no full-length study has yet assessed his incredible career. A former office boy and salesman, Wallis first engaged with the business of film as the manager of a Los Angeles movie theater in 1922. He attracted the notice of the Warner brothers, who hired him as a publicity assistant. Within three months he was director of the department, and appointments to studio manager and production executive quickly followed. Wallis went on to oversee dozens of productions and formed his own production company in 1944. Bernard F. Dick draws on numerous sources such as Wallis's personal production files and exclusive interviews with many of his contemporaries to finally tell the full story of his illustrious career. Dick combines his knowledge of behind-the-scenes Hollywood with fascinating anecdotes to create a portrait of one of Hollywood's early power players.

Provides an introduction to American pulp fiction during the twentieth century with brief author biographies and lists of their works.