World Wide Words

If you are a word-lover you really should check out World Wide Words. It's run by Michael Quinion, the author of many books on words, including Gallimaufry: A Hodgepodge of Our Vanishing Vocabulary and Why is Q Always Followed by U?.

As well as featuring losts of interesting information on all aspects of international English there are very useful reviews of word-related books, including two new books at Abbey's: The F Word and the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. And don't forget to sign up for the free weekly newsletter!

Elizabeth Blackburn Biography

We have just received stock of Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA, which was published in paperback this year. It tells the story of Elizabeth Blackburn's life and work and the emergence of a new field of scientific research on the specialized ends of chromosomes and the telomerase enzyme that extends them. Winning the Nobel Prize for Medicine is only the latest accolade to be bestowed on Elizabeth Blackburn and this biography offers a real insight into the tension between pure and applied science and also into the politics of science.

If you would like to learn more about telomeres you can read a Scientific American article written by Elizabeth Blackburn and her fellow Nobel Prize winner Carol Greider here.