Language bestsellers

Cultish

“The Manson family, Scientology, Crossfit, and Mary Kay all have something in common. They all use language and rhetoric found in cults. The world cult is tossed around so lightly and Cultish is here to show you why. This book defines and explains the power of emphatic language and how companies and cults use it at others detriment. It also has a very sympathetic look at the people who join cults and how the world should treat these victims with kindness. Educational, kind, and humorous this book has it all. ”

Ruthie, Underground Books

A brash, enlightening, and wildly entertaining feminist look at gendered language and the way it shapes us, written with humor and playfulness that challenges words and phrases and how we use them.“I get so jazzed about the future of feminism knowing that Amanda Montell’s brilliance is rising up and about to explode worldwide.”—Jill SolowayThe... Read more »

What does it take to reinvent a language?

After a meteoric rise, China today is one of the world’s most powerful nations. Just a century ago, it was a crumbling empire with literacy reserved for the elite few, as the world underwent a massive technological transformation that threatened to leave them behind. In Kingdom of Characters, Jing Tsu... Read more »

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come. Anne Lamott is "a warm, generous, and hilarious guide through the writer’s world and its treacherous swamps" (Los Angeles Times). 

“Superb... Read more »

Finally--a book of writing advice that accounts for all of the messy, perverse, practical, and inexplicable parts of being a human who writes

The truth is that all of the "writing rules" you've learned are bullshit. Sure, they work for some people, but the likelihood that they'll work for you--unique butterfly of a person that you are--is... Read more »

Sneha Mathan narrates these luminous essays on translation and self-translation by award-winning writer and literary translator Jhumpa Lahiri
With an introduction, afterword, and acknowledgements read by the author

Translating Myself and Others is a collection of candid and disarmingly personal essays by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jhumpa... Read more »

A creative writerss shelf should hold at least three essential books: a dictionary, a style guide, and Writing Fiction. Janet Burroway's bestselling classic is the most widely used creative writing text in America, and for more than three decades it has helped hundreds of thousands of students learn the craft.

This new edition continues to... Read more »

The Easiest and Fastest Way to Learn Polish
With Pimsleur you’ll become conversational in Polish — to understand and be understood — quickly and effectively. You’ll learn vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation together through conversation. And our scientifically proven program will help you remember what you’ve learned, so you can put it into... Read more »

Complete Spanish Step-by-Step is a top-selling Spanish book on all of Amazon! With more than 1,000 4- and 5-star reviews, the reviews speak for themselves. Now, it's your turn to learn Spanish with us! This audio course is designed to help you learn Spanish as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. Note: Complete Spanish Step-by-Step includes... Read more »

This course is designed for individuals who are traveling to France or a French-speaking country and want to learn some basic French language skills to enhance their experience.The course is divided into ten modules that cover essential topics, such as greetings and introductions, ordering food and drinks, shopping, asking for directions, and... Read more »

Excite your little language leaner with this easy and engaging audio course for kids. This step-by-step French course follows the relaxed approach of bestselling language coach, Paul Noble, who guides children gently through the basics, with no mention of grammar or text books. Simply listen carefully, repeat and... Read more »

For fans of Mary Norris and Benjamin Dreyer, an unconventional guide to the English language drawn from the cross-country adventures of an itinerant grammarian.When Ellen Jovin first walked outside her Manhattan apartment building and set up a folding table with a GRAMMAR TABLE sign, it took about thirty seconds to get her first visitor.... Read more »

Twentieth Anniversary Edition with Contributions from Joe Hill and Owen King

ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S TOP 100 NONFICTION BOOKS OF ALL TIME

Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this special edition of Stephen King’s critically lauded, million-copy bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him... Read more »

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • An insightful look into the mind of a master storyteller—and a unique look at the craft of writing from the beloved and best-selling author of 1Q84, Norwegian Wood, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

"Murakami is like a magician who explains what he's doing as he performs the trick and still makes you... Read more »

From the “deliriously clever” (Boston Globe) Simon Garfield, New York Times bestselling author of Just My Type, comes the wild and fascinating story of the encyclopedia, from Ancient Greece to the present day.New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice"A brilliant book about knowledge itself.” —Deirdre Mask, author of The Address... Read more »

The first novel-writing guide from the best-selling Save the Cat! story-structure series, which reveals the 15 essential plot points needed to make any novel a success.

Novelist Jessica Brody presents a comprehensive story-structure guide for novelists that applies the famed Save the Cat! screenwriting methodology to the world of novel writing.... Read more »

Find your voice, speak your truth, listen deeply—a guide to more meaningful and mindful conversations.

We spend so much of our lives talking to each other, but how much are we simply running on automatic—relying on old habits and hoping for the best? Are we able to truly hear others and speak our mind in a clear and kind way, without needing to... Read more »

Following on the heels of Lisa Cron's breakout first book, Wired for Story, this writing guide reveals how to use cognitive storytelling strategies to build a scene-by-scene blueprint for a riveting story.

It’s every novelist’s greatest fear: pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into writing hundreds of pages only to realize that their story... Read more »

How do you tell the story of a feminist education, when the work of feminism can never be perfected or completed? In A Sentimental Education, Hannah McGregor, the podcaster behind Witch, Please and Secret Feminist Agenda, explores what podcasting has taught her about doing feminist scholarship not as a methodology but as a way of life. Moving... Read more »

With President Trump suggesting that teachers arm themselves, with the NRA portrayed as a group of "patriots" helping to Make America Great Again, with high school students across the country demanding a solution to the crisis, everyone in America needs to engage in the discussion about our future with an informed, historical perspective on the... Read more »

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The definitive guide to telling an unforgettable story in any setting, drawing on twenty-five years of experience from the storytelling experts at The Moth

“From toasts to eulogies, from job interviews to social events, this book will help you with ideas, structure, delivery and more.”—CNN

LONGLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT... Read more »

This program is read by and contains archival audio of the author from MSNBC, BBC Question Time, Oxford Union, and other sources.

Win Every Argument shows how anyone can communicate with confidence, rise above the tit-for-tats on social media, and triumph in a successful and productive debate in the real world.

MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan isn’t one to... Read more »

Named a Best Book of the Year by: Time * New Yorker * Sunday Times (UK)From New York Times bestselling author Jami Attenberg comes a dazzling memoir about unlocking and embracing her creativity—and how it saved her life. In this brilliant, fierce, and funny memoir of transformation, Jami Attenberg—described as a “master of modern fiction”... Read more »

No grammar tests. No memory drills. No chance of failure. Welcome to Learn with Paul Noble – a unique, tried and tested language learning method that has been used by almost a million people to speak fluently and confidently in no time at all. This course covers European and Latin American Spanish. Take a... Read more »

This audiobook narrated by Sara Powell takes listeners on an entertaining and illuminating tour of weird, wonderful, and downright baffling words from the origins of English

Old English is the language you think you know until you actually hear or see it. Unlike Shakespearean English or even Chaucer’s Middle English, Old English—the language of... Read more »

Is it possible to conceive of the American diet without bagels? Or Star Trek without Mr. Spock? Are the creatures in Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are based on Holocaust survivors? And how has Yiddish, a language without a country, influenced Hollywood? These and other questions are explored in this stunning and rich anthology of the... Read more »

Dreyer's English

“Listening to this is so much fun. Dreyer has a droll wit—occasionally smug, in a charming way—and he turns grammar and style into an entertaining puzzle. And this stuff really does matter! It’s a great listen. I’ve been snorting with laughter having to rewind to hear what I missed!”

Jennifer, Blue Willow Bookshop

Public speaking can be terrifying. For David Nihill, the idea of standing in front of an audience was scarier than cliff jumping into a thorny pit of spiders and mothers-in-law. Without a parachute or advanced weaponry. Something had to change.In what doesn’t sound like the best plan ever, David decided to overcome his fears by pretending to be... Read more »

Libraries are much more than mere collections of volumes. The best are magical, fabled places whose fame has become part of the cultural wealth they are designed to preserve.

To research this book, Stuart Kells traveled around the world with his young family like modern-day "library tourists." Kells discovered that stories about libraries are... Read more »

In Other Words

“Lahiri traces the origins, tribulations, and tiny victories that have fueled her decades-long courtship with the Italian language in a bilingual memoir that reads more like an intimate diary. The chapters and short stories offer a vivid timeline of Lahiri's turbulent relationship with language, bouncing around from English to Bengali during her childhood, immersing herself in the Italian culture by moving her family overseas, and finally attempting to write a book in a new voice. In Other Words is much more than an attempt -- at self-reflection and reinvention it's a mastery.”

Carly Lenz, Boswell Book Company

THE BEST WAY TO MASTER FRENCH CONVERSATIONS AND SHARPEN YOUR VOCABULARY SKILLS IN NO TIME. 
French is an excellent language to know if you plan to travel the fashion country in the world and visit wonderful places like Eiffel tower in Paris and visit Louvre Museum or ride a boat in Saint-Tropez.
Whether you are a beginner or are looking to refresh... Read more »

The vast majority of writers begin the storytelling process with only a partial understanding of where to begin. Some labor their entire lives without ever learning that successful stories are as dependent upon good engineering as they are artistry. But the truth is, unless you are master of the form, function, and criteria of successful... Read more »

**With a Foreword by OLIVER BURKEMAN, author of the Sunday Times bestseller Four Thousand Weeks**
Do you ever wish you could find more time to write? Do you ever feel frustrated that other things get in the way? Perhaps you're stuck at the start, mired in the middle or just can't get back into the writing groove?
Writing is important to many of us... Read more »

Speak Spanish from lesson 1. Let Maria Fernandez take you step by step, with easy conversations and fun drills.Make fast progressThis course is designed to help you become fluent in Spanish within a few months. Maria is a highly experienced native Spanish teacher. She has taught 1000s of Spanish learners successfully.Build your confidenceThe 24... Read more »

The Easiest and Fastest Way to Learn Modern Hebrew
With Pimsleur you’ll become conversational in Modern Hebrew — to understand and be understood — quickly and effectively. You’ll learn vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation together through conversation. And our scientifically proven program will help you remember what you’ve learned, so you... Read more »

How do master storytellers compel us? There have been many attempts to understand what makes a good story, but few have used a scientific approach. In The Science of Storytelling, Will Storr applies dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to our myths and archetypes to show how we can tell better stories, revealing, among... Read more »

“WE NEED TO TALK.”They are, perhaps, the most dreaded four words in the English language. But in her timely, insightful, and wonderfully practical audiobook, We Need to Talk, Celeste Headlee—who earns a living by talking on the airwaves of National Public Radio—makes the case that they are urgently needed.Today most of us communicate from behind... Read more »

An essay collection exploring his education as a man, writer, and activist—and how we form our identities in life and in artAs a novelist, Alexander Chee has been described as “masterful” by Roxane Gay, “incendiary” by the New York Times, and “brilliant” by the Washington Post. With How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, his first collection of... Read more »

The art and craft of writing by one of the few grandmasters of American literature, a bonanza for writers and readers written by Kurt Vonnegut's former student.

Here is an entirely new side of Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut as a teacher of writing. Of course he's given us glimpses before, with aphorisms and short essays and articles and in his... Read more »

Brevity is confidence. Length is fear. This is the guiding principle of Smart Brevity, a communication formula built by Axios journalists to prioritize essential news and information, explain its impact and deliver it in a concise and visual format. Now, the co-founders of Axios have created an essential guide for communicating effectively and... Read more »

With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson—the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent—brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells... Read more »

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

“The best dictionary you'll ever had read to you. In fact, there's probably a word for that.”

Charity, Schuler Books

A CNN Book of the Week: “Explains not just why we should read books, but how we should read them. It’​s masterfully done.” —Farheed Zakaria

Originally published in 1940, this book is a rare phenomenon, a living classic that introduces and elucidates the various levels of reading and how to achieve them—from elementary reading, through systematic... Read more »

The key to good and efficient writing lies in the intelligent organisation of ideas and notes. This book helps students, academics and nonfiction writers to get more done, write intelligent texts and learn for the long run. It teaches you how to take smart notes and ensure they bring you and your projects forward.The Take Smart Notes principle... Read more »

Consider This

“After listening to the audiobook recording of Consider This, I felt invigorated enough that I almost thought, "Should I write a book?" I'm not a writer, but Palahniuk's tapestry of stories and advice for the craft feels so vibrant and useful that it makes the reader (or listener, in my case) feel prepared to venture into the world of writing, and it reminds us that the most powerful stories are the ones that bring out more stories in the people interacting with it. Palahniuk's words (read with exquisite energy by Edoardo Ballerini in the audiobook) combine his own experiences and advice with stories collected from readers, booksellers, agents, and other authors he's encountered over the years. Whether or not you're a writer, Consider This will engage, titillate, and at times frighten you.”

Lelia, One More Page

Use your voice to lead us to a better future with this game-changing guide to redefining what power and authority sound like—from a speech expert who’s worked with Hollywood’s biggest stars, political powerhouses, and businesspeople shaking up the status quo.

“I love this book—funny, surprising, stirring, and so important! What a beautiful... Read more »

Improve your spoken Spanish from home with 101 real-world conversations in simple, everyday Spanish.Real Spanish people don't speak like your textbook… so it's no wonder you feel unprepared when it's your turn to speak! This book fixes that. For the first time, you'll learn to speak Spanish in the REAL world, with 101 authentic conversations in... Read more »

“One of the great reporters of our time and probably the greatest biographer.” —The Sunday Times (London)

From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Power Broker and The Years of Lyndon Johnson: an unprecedented gathering of vivid, candid, deeply moving recollections about his experiences researching and writing his acclaimed... Read more »

The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner’s timeless lectures that became a New York Times bestselling classic regarded as a “profound and priceless as guidance for anyone who aspires to write” (Los Angeles Times).

Born in 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi, Eudora Welty shares details of her upbringing that show us how her family and her... Read more »

“Do you want to write clearer, livelier prose? This witty primer will help.” —The New York Times Book Review

An exploration of how the most ordinary words can be turned into verbal constellations of extraordinary grace through the art of building sentences

The sentence is the common ground where every writer walks. A good sentence can be written... Read more »