A01=Eli Burnstein
A12=Liana Finck
Author_Eli Burnstein
Author_Liana Finck
Category=CFK
Category=DSB
classic books
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_dictionaries-language-reference
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
famous quotes
forthcoming
gift books
great literature
humour
Joan Didion
puns
stocking filler
Susan Sontag
Wordplay
Product details
- ISBN 9781805226994
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 01 Oct 2026
- Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
'Brilliant, revelatory and erudite. Like all the best books it lets you see the familiar world in a new way' Mark Forsyth, author of The Etymologicon
'Enlightening' Steven Pinker
Hell is other people. You are what you eat. Ignorance is bliss. Or is it?
We read them, perhaps give a knowing chuckle, and move on with next to no thought. But what do these timeless and iconic quotations really mean?
Thankfully, language and philosophy obsessive Eli Burnstein is on hand to unpack forty-five of humanity's most iconic statements with lightness and wit. From Aristotle to Hannah Arendt, William Blake to Simone de Beauvoir, each delightfully illustrated entry will improve your grasp of the meaning behind their riddlesome words, and deepen your appreciation for the big ideas they stand for.
Eli Burnstein is the author of the delightful Dictionary of Fine Distinctions, in which he teases apart the subtle differences between everyday objects, ideas and words. Burnstein's writing has appeared in The New Yorker and McSweeney's. He runs a spelling bee (Spelling Bae) that has been featured in the Toronto Star, National Post, and on CBC Radio, and lives in London. More at www.eliburnstein.com.
