Learning the English language without due respect to it's cultural roots is almost impossible. All languages in the world have been developed and still continue to develop through the literature traditions closely related to the customs of an originating country. It is a fact. People learn about each other, their history and lifestyle via their spiritual envoys like writers, poets, playwrights, etc. Our experience of teaching English revealed the necessity of introducing at least the basics from the literature of the English speaking countries, that may open ability to debate in English as well as to develop skills of analytical thinking. The book does not include original texts from the most famous authors from Britain and America, but covers most necessary information like biography of an author, summary of his masterpiece, critical analysis and focus questions for further references and discussions. Preparing the book we were well aware that students who learn English as a foreign or a second language are much limited in time and resources and the book comes as a handy guide to the rescue. I would also recommend this book to teachers who can use it to build up a successful lesson in literature classes through discussions raising general awareness of the Western literature. We also recommend the book to a general non-native and native speakers of English to read it for pleasure killing two birds with one stone: to be familiar with the authors (almost all of them are Nobel and Pulitzer prize winners), with their works and save much time and efforts to read them in original. I do not claim that all what is in the book, especially in the "critique" part of it, to be dogmatic and irrevocable; it is just a sample of a viewpoint and questions at the end will help to form most likely, other quite distinguished and different standpoint. We are giving an opportunity to everyone to stay away from the stereotypical and trivial judgments, that are so common in today's world and start building up own ones.

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There hardly exists more readable and universally translated book in the world, than the "Holy Bible". It influenced and continues to influence cultural life of the world nations in many different ways; with its religious significance, simplicity of narration, diversity of stories, sayings and common phrases, and much more. Almost all languages in the world permanently borrowed from the Bible words and expressions we use today, most likely unaware of their origin. Majority of ethical norms, customs and traditions of nations and ethnical groups from all around the world became the way of life due to the Bible. More often two cultures find the common sense and mutual ground for relations through their faith and believes and they are not the exception. Even those who are not religious often do not realize that the way of living they lead from day to day was once conceived by their forefathers through the Bible and its principles almost genetically occur in every family biography. It is not necessarily religion that matters, but the power of this literary masterpiece that makes it the most popular book of all times and in all places. How can we communicate successfully if we do not acquire with due respect social values of other cultures, that were rooted through their affiliations? Necessity to know the personality of Jesus and awareness of the Bible stories become inevitable to study languages, history, arts or literature of Western cultures. That is why I included this book in my series of volumes depicting all sides of the Bible and especially of the New Testament - stories about Jesus. The book is not a manual for religious reading and in no way can be considered as such - it is not worth for this purpose, but a reference guide with historical facts, pictures and information on archeological discoveries in the history of the Bible. It includes "self-evaluation tests" and rich Glossary of religious and theological terms along with the story of Jesus' life and death, summery, background, analysis and virtual picture gallery to visually percept what is important to know about Jesus. Language in the book is simplified to the point that is understandable for almost everybody, who has the basic knowledge of English. At the same time, it is just interesting to have more understanding of what people in the World cultures appreciate most of all.

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This book is an introduction to studies in cinematography. It includes information about beginning of the new era in a history of the mankind - arts called cinematography. Part of the book is devoted to the most important events in film industry that influence its development arranged by dates and decades, biographies and works of the most influential people in history of the filmmaking featured with pictures and corresponding dates. Probably one of the outstanding features of the guide is its statistical data, where a reader can find ranked and graded list of the most famous and award winning movies of all times worldwide, also listed by decades and years of production. Thus the book embraces a period of almost a century chronologically following the development and changes in the film industry throughout the world, listing academy award winners as well as those movies, which were significant releases of those times. There is no film produced, which does not have a commercial value and rating. The reader could find a list of the most expensive productions in the world with the box office information next to the listing in US dollars. The last part of the book is devoted to the specific language and terminology of filmmaking depicted as a Glossary of terms with vivid examples and situations of usage.  The book is not limited only to a number of students who study the course in film industry, but also can be a valuable reference guide for those who wish to have general knowledge about the cinematography and its makers.

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Those who wish to kill two birds with one stone… even more will find this edition extremely hilarious and amazing. Rich in jokes, funny cartoons, hints of humorous advise, funny stories and pictures from real life, weird dialogues, definitions of humorous expressions and words, and much more… this book helps to understand and learn a lot from cultural and language diversity of the English language and its speakers. Humor is the best key to open the world of morals, ethics and needs of people living in different cultures, especially when there is a need to efficient and effective communication. The book depicts customs and traditions of English speaking countries as funny, innocent stereotypical behavior or way of living. Every joke or picture engraves a style of speech which is so common in the USA, Australia or Great Britain but so difficult sometimes to understand. Reason? Too much of a serious approach to the language learning and lack of imagination. Idioms, slang, political gobbledygook, archaisms, formal and informal language patterns, Proverbs and sayings, quotations visually displayed, make this book a rich collection of jokes and humor. Brief explanatory superscript highlighting what might seem difficult to understand, keeps the reader constantly aware of the cultural peculiarities. Thus, there is no need of advance knowledge in language to enjoy all the fun the book offers. And its contents are not limited to either native or non-native speakers of English. It … it is simply funny itself.

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The book focuses on practical applications as well as on those dimensions of American culture critical to understanding the dynamics of American society. It examines perception and thinking processes, language, and nonverbal behavior. The book gives advice to foreign visitors to the U.S. that is intended to help them understand the motivations, attitudes, communication styles, and actions of Americans. Emphasizing the interpretation of observed behavior, it covers ways of reasoning and American ideas about politics, family life, education, religion, the media, social relationships, racial and ethnic diversity, male-female relationships, sports and recreation, driving, shopping, personal hygiene, and organizational and public behavior. Over-generalization is an understandable danger in such a work as this, but the book does make an effort to emphasize that there are variations among Americans, while the author concentrates on the similarities. ESL teachers and tutors will also find much useful material here. Careful attention has been given to keeping sentence structure straightforward, controlling the difficulty level of vocabulary, and avoiding idiomatic language. A partial listing of topics covered includes general first impressions, customary behaviors and dominant attitudes, business practices and the workplace environment, social manners, transportation, money management, medical care, food and dining customs, shopping, communications, safety and emergencies. For long-term visitors there are especially helpful chapters on housing, care of young children, schools, teenage life, household help, religion, friendships and leisure-time activities.

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It came under fire for failing to draw attention to trade-marks (a policy largely reversed in reprints after 1962) and for not capitalizing any headwords (except for "God" and, in the reprints, trade-marks). Instead of capitalizing "American", for example, the dictionary has labels next to the entries reading cap (for the noun) and usu cap (for the adjective). Defenders argue that this allows informative distinctions to be drawn: "gallic" is usu cap while "gallicism" is often cap and "gallicize" is sometimes cap. The dictionary was regarded by many critics as excessively permissive, and was compared unfavourably with the Second Edition of 1934. Critics charged that the dictionary was reluctant to defend standard English. "Ain't" received no more severe comment than "though disapproved by many and more common in less educated speech, used orally in most parts of the U.S. by many cultivated speakers esp. in the phrase ain't I". The Third New International Dictionary is one of the foremost exemplars of descriptivist linguistics Broadly conceived, linguistics is the study of human language and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. The study of linguistics can be conceived as occurring along three major axes, the endpoints of which are described below:  aiming to represent the English language as it is actually spoken and written by most users. Among the dictionary's strengths, it contains an unusually large number of pronunciation variants - even going so far as to indicate clearly the rhotic and non-rhotic variations; like smaller Merriam-Webster dictionaries, it contains short discussions of the differences between synonymous words; and above all, its definitions are normally clear and precise. It is also comprehensive. When first published, it contained more than 450,000 words. The software includes Thesaurus synonyms and antonyms  with every available entry.

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