"We acquire our native language, seemingly without effort, in infancy and early childhood. Language is our constant companion throughout our lifetime, even as we age. Indeed, compared with other aspects of cognition, language seems to be fairly resilient through the process of aging. In Changing Minds, Roger Kreuz and Richard Roberts examine how aging affects language—and how language affects aging.
Kreuz and Roberts report that what appear to be changes in an older person's language ability are actually produced by declines in such other cognitive processes as memory and perception. Some language abilities, including vocabulary size and writing ability, may even improve with age. And certain language activities—including reading fiction and engaging in conversation—may even help us live fuller and healthier lives.
Kreuz and Roberts explain the cognitive processes underlying our language ability, exploring in particular how changes in these processes lead to changes in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They consider, among other things, the inability to produce a word that's on the tip of your tongue—and suggest that the increasing incidence of this with age may be the result of a surfeit of world knowledge."
"'The Tuning In series truly embodies the excellence that this award was created to celebrate.'
–National Indie Excellence Awards
Jon Gunnarson never meant to transform humanity. He just wanted a normal life. A life where he doesn't absorb other people's emotions, lose himself and have to live like a hermit. So he jumps at the chance to help develop a scam telepathy app because it will get him to Bhutan, where he hopes an old friend will teach him how to disconnect. Sure, he has to work with Ella, a neuroscientist he's falling in love with, and Venn, a fraudulent Marketer who's wanted by the FBI. But Jon's had a lifetime of practice at pulling away and he figures he can handle it while he learns how to manage his condition.
The problem is, working with others is the least of his worries. Because Jon and Ella unwittingly trigger the onset of mass telepathy. And, as if that isn't enough, they must run for their lives when they discover a way that Venn can avoid arrest.
But how will they escape someone who can read their minds?
“A commendable series with surprising moments of profundity.”
–Kirkus Reviews
Winner: Science Fiction
–American Fiction Awards
Finalist,Thriller & Suspense
–Forward Reviews"
"Middle school supervillain Penny Akk has defeated every challenge thrown against her. She has bested heroes, villains, weirdos who can't make up their minds, robots, aliens, friends, rivals, enemies, natural disasters, secret admirers, and her own shyness.
Now she has only one opponent left.
Her own super power.
. . . and the other Penny who stole it."
"It's summertime for supervillains!
Or maybe not, because for Penelope Akk, there is still one foe she has yet to defeat: her own reputation as Bad Penny. It's been a fun ride: fighting adult heroes, going to space, and inspiring the rest of her school to open up about their own powers.
Sooner or later, that ride has to end, and with school out of the way Penny is hatching a mad scheme to end it on her own terms. Will that go smoothly? Of course not. Penny's left too many unsolved problems behind her already, like ghosts, seriously crazy friends, and angry little girls from Jupiter.
One by one, they'll have to be dealt with before she can do battle with herself. She'd better hurry, because her parents are closing in. Whether she confesses or not, this time they will find out her secret."
"Being a superhero should be fun. After all, a world of super powers is a world where amazonian juggernauts made of candy battle guys in spandex that drive talking cars. Irene loves that weirdness, loves the game of fighting, and loves being a four-foot-tall woman who still gets to drop big heavy objects on villains' heads.
In 1980, that fun is in danger. A mad scientist who murders people for his research has everyone afraid. Two of the friendliest super powered rivals around stop playing and go for the kill. If superheroes and villains aren't safe in their own homes, how can having powers be anything but a nightmare?
Irene will not let that happen. She wants to show her friends-a ten-year-old grim reaper, and a zombie mish-mosh of living and metal parts-that their lives don't have to be grim. With the help of a superintelligent spider, Team Tiny will make the world fun again.
Except maybe it's the spider who's in charge after all . . ."
"Supervillains do not merely play hooky.
True, coming back to school after a month spent fighting—and defeating—adult superheroes is a bit of a comedown for the Inscrutable Machine. When offered the chance to skip school in the most dramatic way possible, Penelope Akk can't resist. With the help of a giant spider and mysterious red goo, she builds a spaceship and flies to Jupiter.
Mutant goats. Secret human colonies. A war between three alien races with humanity as the prize. Robot overlords and evil plots. Penny and her friends find all this and more on Jupiter's moons, but what they don't find are any heroes to save the day.
Fortunately, they have an angry eleven year old and a whole lot of mad science . . ."
"What would middle school be like if half your classmates had super powers? It's time for Penny Akk to find out. Her latest (failed) attempt to become a superhero has inspired the rest of the kids in her school to reveal their own powers.
Now, all of her relationships are changing. She has a not-at-all-secret admirer, who wants to be Penny's partner almost as much as she wants to be Penny's rival. The meanest girl in school has gained super powers and lost her mind. Can Penny help her find a better one? Can she help an aging supervillain connect with his daughter, and mend the broken hearts of two of the most powerful people in the world? And in all this, where will she find time for her own supervillainous fun, or even more dangerous, to start dating?
It's going to be a long, strange semester."
"The secret of having an adventure is getting lost. Who ever visited an enchanted kingdom or fell into a fairy tale without wandering into the woods first?
Well, Mary is lost. Mary is lost in the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and that is a cruel and murderous story. She's put on the red hood and met the Wolf. When she gives in to her Wolf's temptations, she will die. That's how the story goes, after all.
Unfortunately for the story and unfortunately for the Wolf, this Little Red Riding Hood is Mary Stuart, and she is the most stubborn and contrary twelve-year-old the world has ever known.
Forget the Wolf's temptations, forget the advice of the talking rat trying to save her—Mary will kick her way through every myth and fairy tale ever told until she finds a way to get out of this alive. Her own way and no one else's."
"Penelope Akk wants to be a superhero. She's got superhero parents. She's got the ultimate mad science power, filling her life with crazy gadgets that even she doesn't understand. She has two super-powered best friends. In middle school, the line between good and evil looks clear.
In real life, nothing is that clear. All it takes is one hero's sidekick picking a fight, and Penny and her friends are labeled supervillains. In the process, Penny learns a hard lesson about villainy: she's good at it.
Criminal masterminds, heroes in power armor, bottles of dragon blood, alien war drones, shape-shifters, and ghosts—no matter what the super-powered world throws at her, Penny and her friends come out on top. They have to. If she can keep winning, maybe she can clear her name before her mom and dad find out."
"Adults who want to learn a foreign language are often discouraged because they believe they cannot acquire a language as easily as children. Once they begin to learn a language, students may be further discouraged when they find the methods used to teach children don’t seem to work for them. What is an adult language learner to do?
In Becoming Fluent, Richard Roberts and Roger Kreuz draw on insights from psychology and cognitive science to show that adults can master a foreign language if they bring to bear the skills and knowledge they have honed over a lifetime. Adults shouldn’t try to learn as children do; they should learn like adults. Roberts and Kreuz report evidence that adults can learn new languages even more easily than children. Children appear to have only two advantages over adults in learning a language: they acquire a native accent more easily, and they do not suffer from self-defeating anxiety about learning a language. Adults, on the other hand, have the greater advantages—gained from experience—of an understanding of their own mental processes and knowing how to use language to do things. Adults have an especially advantageous grasp of pragmatics, the social use of language, and Roberts and Kreuz show how to leverage this metalinguistic ability in learning a new language.
Learning a language takes effort. But if adult learners apply the tools acquired over a lifetime, it can be enjoyable and rewarding."
