Books like Words are my matter by Ursula K. Le Guin

Metaphor is portrayed as a core cognitive tool that shapes our thoughts and actions without our awareness, using everyday experiences to understand diverse domains.

Guy Deutscher explores how culture and language influence each other, arguing that linguistic structures shape thought and that our experience of the world depends on words—and that words are shaped by cultural practices.

I. Asimov is a richly anecdotal memoir that lets readers glimpse Isaac Asimov’s storied life, his pioneering work in science fiction, his wide-ranging nonfiction, and his friendships with the giants of the genre.

A practical guide to writing clear, engaging English, grounded in contemporary research from linguistics, cognitive science, and related fields.

In The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker explores how language shapes our cognition and society, revealing the hidden links between words, emotions, and culture.

A practical guide to crafting artificial languages for writers, gamers, and language enthusiasts, with tools, history, and case studies from famous fictional tongues.

Ann Patchett's essays explore life's moments of enchantment and universal truths.

"Award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin was lauded by millions for her groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy novels, though she began her career as a poet. 'I still kind of twitch and growl when I'm reduced to being the science fiction writer. I'm a novelist and increasingly a poet. And sometimes I wish they'd call me that,' Le Guin said in a 2015 interview with NPR. In this clarifying and sublime collection--written shortly before her death in 2018--Le Guin immerses herself in the natural world, ruminating on the mysteries of dying, and considering the simple, redemptive lessons of the earth" --

In Part I, Language and Responsibility, Chomsky presents a fascinating self-portrait of his political, moral, and linguistic thinking. In Part II, Reflections on Language, Chomsky explores the more general implications of the study of language and offers incisive analyses of the controversies among psychologists, philosophers, and linguists over fundamental questions of language.

"There are approximately six thousand languages on Earth today, each a descendant of the tongue first spoken by Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. How did they all develop? What happened to the first language?". "In this tour of territory too often claimed by stodgy grammarians, linguistics professor John McWhorter ranges across linguistic theory, geography, history, and pop culture to tell the fascinating story of how thousands of very different languages have evolved from a single, original source in a natural process similar to biological evolution. While laying out how languages mix and mutate over time, he reminds us of the variety within the species that speaks them, and argues that, contrary to popular perception, language is not immutable and hidebound, but a living, dynamic entity that adapts itself to an ever-changing human environment.". "Full of humor and imaginative insight, The Power of Babel draws its illustrative examples from languages around the world, including pidgins, creoles, and nonstandard dialects. McWhorter also discusses current theories on what the first language might have been like, why dialects should not be considered "bad speech," and why most of today's languages will be extinct within one hundred years.". "The first book written for the layperson about the natural history of language, The Power of Babel is a dazzling tour de force that will leave readers anything but speechless."--BOOK JACKET.

A concise biography of Isaac Asimov, outlining his prolific career as an American author who produced nearly 500 books spanning science fiction and nonfiction.

Illustrated biography of Ray Bradbury, tracing his artistic journey through the 20th and 21st centuries, including rare art and writings by and about him.

Springing from writer and journalist Mark Forsyth's hugely popular blog The Inky Fool and including word-connection parlour games perfect for any word-lovers get-together, The Etymologicon is a brilliant map of the secret labyrinth that lurks beneath the English language. There's always a connection. Sometimes, it's obvious: an actor's role was once written on a roll of parchment, and cappuccinos are the same color as the robes of a Capuchin monk. Sometimes the connection is astonishing and a little more hidden: who would have guessed that your pants and panties are named after Saint Pantaleon, the all-compassionate?

Interviews with Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations about Science Fiction and the American Literary Canon

Interviews with Ursula K. Le Guin offering insights into her craft, aesthetics, philosophy, and views on genre, patriarchy, nature, and writing.