Language Theory

Unlock the hidden language of signs and symbols that shapes your world. From the words we speak to the images we consume, semiotics—the study of signs, symbols, and meaning—reveals how communication works beneath the surface. Signs, Symbols, and Meaning: Exploring the World of Semiotics and Its Lasting Influence introduces readers to this fascinating discipline, tracing its origins in philosophy and linguistics, exploring the groundbreaking theories of Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce, and uncovering how signs operate in language, culture, media, advertising, politics, ...

“A marvelous book. It’s gossipy and personal and completely fascinating...cafe gossip with the footnotes left in.”— New York Times “A superbly engrossing adventure of ideas...this will surely be my philosophy book of the year.” —Sarah Bakewell, New York Times bestselling author of...

When you need a language model to respond accurately and quickly about a specific field of knowledge, the sprawling capacity of an LLM may hurt more than it helps. This book teaches you to build generative AI models optimized for specific fields.

Living Patterns: Christopher Alexander and the Power of Pattern Language in Design is a compelling exploration of one of the most influential architectural thinkers of the modern era. Christopher Alexander’s groundbreaking work on pattern language transformed not only architecture but also urban planning, community design, and even software development. This book offers readers an accessible yet in-depth introduction to his vision of creating environments that are not only functional and beautiful but truly alive. From his early writings in Notes on the Synthesis of Form to his ...

Create a lasting and loving attachment with this national bestseller, a “must-read for every couple, at any stage of their relationship” (Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone) from the expert couple’s therapist behind the popular Instagram...

In Build a Large Language Model (from Scratch) bestselling author Sebastian Raschka guides you step by step through creating your own LLM. Each stage is explained with clear text, diagrams, and examples. You’ll go from the initial design and creation, to pretraining on a general corpus, and on to fine-tuning for specific tasks.

The forerunner to The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion tells the earlier history of Middle-earth, recounting the events of the First and Second Ages, and introducing some of the key characters, such as Galadriel, Elrond, Elendil and the Dark Lord, Sauron. The tales of The Silmarillion are set...

Few words carry as much weight as communism. To some it means the worst nightmare of the last century — famine, gulags, a wall with guards told to shoot. To others, often younger, it means a beautiful idea that never got a fair chance. Both pictures contain something true, which is exactly why the word is so hard to think about clearly. This short, plain-language guide takes communism apart by separating three things people constantly confuse: the dream (a world with no rich, no poor, and no state), the theory (how Marx said we'd get there), and the regimes (what actually happened when ...

Discover how one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant minds redefined the meaning of thought, truth, and understanding. Logic, Language, and Life: Understanding the Transformative Ideas of Ludwig Wittgenstein explores the profound evolution of a philosopher who changed how we see language and reality. From the razor-sharp precision of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus to the groundbreaking insights of Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein’s journey reshaped modern philosophy and continues to influence linguistics, psychology, artificial intelligence, and ethics. Written in ...

Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Beloved Toni Morrison investigates Black characters in the American literary canon and the way they shaped the nation’s collective unconscious. In a dazzling series of lectures from her tenure as a professor at Princeton University, Toni...

Mastering GraphRAG: From Theory to Production with Neo4j" is a comprehensive, hands-on guide designed to take you from a novice to an expert in building sophisticated AI applications that leverage the power of knowledge graphs. The core premise of this book is that the future of AI lies in its ability to understand and reason over connected data. I methodically deconstruct every component of a GraphRAG system—from data modeling and ingestion to advanced retrieval and production deployment—ensuring a deep conceptual understanding backed by immediate practical application. Using Neo4j, ...

Common Ground is accessible to teachers at all levels yet firmly rooted in current questions of second language acquisition (SLA). One of its primary strengths is the authors themselves, both of whom are accomplished language teachers who understand the challenges and opportunities in communication-focused language teaching.

Unlock the hidden patterns that shape language, culture, and society with this complete guide to structuralism. Structuralism Explained: A Complete Guide to Understanding the Philosophy, Theory, and Influence of Structuralist Thought takes readers on a journey through one of the most important intellectual movements of the twentieth century. From Ferdinand de Saussure’s revolutionary ideas about language to Claude Lévi-Strauss’s groundbreaking studies of myth and culture, this book clearly explains how structuralism transformed linguistics, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and ...

Forget the language instinct—this is the story of how we make up language as we go Language is perhaps humanity’s most astonishing capacity—and one that remains poorly understood. In The Language Game, cognitive scientists Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater show us where...

A New York Times bestseller A New York Times Notable Book “The tale of how Konnikova followed a story about poker players and wound up becoming a story herself will have you riveted, first as you learn about her big winnings, and then as she conveys the lessons she learned both about human...

Discover the Secret to Personal Excellence Hidden in Your “Mind-Body Code” You may know that your mind influences your health—but what's influencing your mind? Until you answer this question, you may be overlooking a key factor on the path to personal excellence. On The Mind-Body Code...

Natural Language Processing in Action is your guide to building machines that can read and interpret human language. In it, you'll use readily available Python packages to capture the meaning in text and react accordingly. The book expands traditional NLP approaches to include neural networks, modern deep learning algorithms, and generative techniques as you tackle real-world problems like extracting dates and names, composing text, and answering free-form questions.

Increase intimacy, connection, and love with this “critical” (Vanessa Van Edwards, bestselling author of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People), science-based guide to creating meaningful and lasting relationships. When it comes to building a better relationship with your partner...

In this study, Fromm argues that man needs to analyze his unconscious thoughts, his dreams, and his conscious fantasies, as they reflect a universal and symbolic representation of himself.

One of the twentieth century's most influential books, this classic work of anthropology offers a groundbreaking exploration of what culture is With The Interpretation of Cultures, the distinguished anthropologist Clifford Geertz developed the concept of thick description, and in so doing, he...