My Books
This page will no longer be updated. For further information about my book go to Lavengro Books. For a discussion of language matters, go to my language blog.
I have written a usage guide to the English language for non-native users of the language. It is, quite simply, a collection of what I have taught my students over the years and is presented in dictionary format. One kind friend who has read the manuscript has described it as Fowler for Foreigners.
It is intended for people who already have a good level of English, and need to use it in their daily life, but have queries and doubts about whether they are getting it right. I am particularly thinking of professional and businesspeople; the people who have a bilingual English dictionary as an essential reference work should have this as its essential complement. I also imagine that EFL teachers will find it useful. It has 517 pages and some 186,602 words.
I am currently negotiating with eBooks World about publishing it; I expect it to appear very soon as an e-book and in print-on-demand (POD) format. In early December 2005 I had a working weekend in Queens' College Cambridge, where I started work on the cross-references, which, as this is an e-book, will be in the form of hyperlinks. That weekend I converted about 1,000 references to hyperlinks and still have some 600 to go. I hope to complete this task and other outstanding issues soon, and to get the book out in the next few months. The POD version may take a little longer if page formatting becomes an issue.
As if that weren’t enough, I am starting on a new book. Inspired by Phil Newton’s book The Best Mistakes in English, which is written for German students and available from eBooks World, I am writing a similar book for Spanish students. It will feature among other things the tales of one student who had nightmares for lunch, another who fell off a whore that was going too fast, the motorcyclist who jumped off his machine and got laid in the street and, for Catalans, just what is so funny about the Tomb Bus.
After another weekend in Cambridge in March the book is now very nearly finished, especially following an intensive session over the Easter weekend putting in the phonetic symbols -- a rereading that inevitably brought to light a few more inconsistencies and references that needed clarifying. I have a few points still to clear up but, if I have time, I should have it finalised and sent for publishing within a few weeks.
My book is now complete. After another weekend in Cambridge I can report that with the exception of some graphics that have to come from other people and a consultation with a lawyer about copyright issues, it is ready to go to … well not to the printers but to the people who will turn it into the appropriate pdf format for publication as an e-book. A print-on-demand version will follow, later this year I hope.
The writing is now finished. My list of things to add is empty. I am waiting for a technical query to be resolved (about converting MSWord headers to pdf format) and I have a few minor points to ask a lawyer about. Apart from that it is ready to go.
At the almost final count it weighs in at 183,784 words and 532 A4 pages.
It has now gone off to Germany, a little later than expected (isn't it always?) mainly because of my work load, which is very heavy at this time of year. It has now coincided with a holiday period at eBooks World but things should be moving soon. I will use my own summer holiday to work on the POD (print on demand) version and on other projects.
Because of a hard disc failure I was unable to do any work on my book last month. The next opportunity will be when I am in Cambridge next month.
The end is in sight. After another weekend in Cambridge I have the final text of both electronic and POD versions. I have applied for the ISBN for the electronic version and will do so for the POD. I am having a web site set up to sell the book through.
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This letter is published in the Observer of 22 January 2006. It would appear that the writer’s name meant nothing to the letters editor, and that the irony inherent in the form in which it was sent was also missed.
E-books are not green
Prediction: electronic book readers (News, last week) will seem like a really good idea at first, but then e-book spam will appear, along with the inevitable adverts between chapters, then we will have to spend lots of money on anti-virus software, and before we know it the readers will need expensive upgrades, and shortly after that become obsolete.
As to environmental problems, electronic devices tend to require lots of energy to produce, are difficult to recycle and are often polluting when they get broken and thrown away. Compared to this, paper (which in Britain comes mostly from plantations, not rainforests) does not seem so bad.
It would be nice to see publishers making more use of recycled paper, or even experimenting with paper made from other plant fibres, such as hemp or stinging nettle.
Ned Ludd
via email
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He escrito un libro que es ni más ni menos que una recopilación de todo lo que he explicado a mis alumnos durante los años, presentada en formato de un diccionario de dudas. Es de 550 páginas y unas 180.000 palabras. El libro es escrito en inglés y supone un nivel adecuado -es decir, bastante alto- de esta lengua para su comprensión.