About "Ifferisms: An Anthology of Aphorisms That Begin with the Word 'If'"

Ifferisms: An Anthology of Aphorisms That Begin with the Word "If" Published September 2009       Hardcover: 336 Pages List Price: $15.99       ISBN: 0061672300

HarperCollins

All on-line booksellers and all major brick & mortar bookstores will be selling the book, but to make things a little easier for you, I'll provide a link to amazon.com below:

Ifferisms is my fifth "word & language" book in the past ten years. All of the books—while quite different from each other—have one thing in common: they all celebrate my love of words and language. This book is an anthology of aphorisms that all begin with the word "if." I've coined the word ifferisms for these wonderful creations, and you will find nearly 2,000 of them in the book. First, though, a brief word about aphorisms.

An aphorism is a succinctly phrased observation that attempts to express a truth—or sometimes just an opinion—about the human experience. "An aphorism is a one-line novel," says the Ukrainian writer Leonid Sukhorukov. The American writer Stefan Kanfer adds: "The aphorism is a personal observation inflated into a universal truth, a private posing as a general." History's greatest thinkers and writers have viewed the aphorism as a powerful tool, and their aphoristic efforts have such a long and distinguished history in the human experience that Samuel Taylor Coleridge said of them:

I've been collecting aphorisms since I was an undergraduate at the University of North Dakota in the 1960s. But it wasn't until twenty-or-so years later that I began to notice that many of history's most memorable aphorisms had one interesting thing in common:

At first, I simply referred to them as "iffy" quotations, but as the number in my personal collection grew from the hundreds to the thousands, I began to refer to them as ifferisms. As the years have passed, my thinking about them has also evolved and my appreciation for them has deepened. I now understand the critical role that the simple word if plays in the way we think about the world and in the way we describe it to others. If is, in my opinion, the biggest little word in the human language. And it is an essential tool when people engage in what is called hypothetical or counterfactual thinking, or when they make what your high school English teacher called conditional statements (I explore all of these concepts in a down-to-earth way in the book).

The intended audience for this book is the same as for my other books—it's for quotation lovers as well as for people who enjoy wordplay and ideaplay. If this description fits you, I think you'll enjoy the book. And if you know such a person, it could be the perfect gift for the word and language lover in your life.

For more information, click on the links below:

 Table of Contents

 How to Get the Book

Table of Contents

I rarely buy a book without first perusing the table of contents. If you're similarly inclined, this should help:

How to Get the Book

Let me briefly describe three ways for you to get a copy of the book.

1) Your Local Bookstore

Most discerning bookstores will have Ifferisms in stock, so a visit to your favorite bookseller may be the easiest way to get your hands on a copy. If they don't have it in stock, ask them to order a copy. This is a service bookstores are more than willing to provide, so take advantage of it.

2) Online Bookstore:  

3) Your Local Library

If you're a little short on cash right now, no problem! You can be reading Ifferisms within a few weeks. Simply go to your local library and ask them to order a copy or two for the library's collection. They will be happy to reserve a copy of the book for you, and they'll even notify you when it comes in. I've been able to get my hands on scores of books this way over the years. It's one of the many fantastic services provided by public libraries; yet very few people are aware of it. And it's paid for by your tax dollars, so take advantage of it. By the way, even if you decide to buy a copy of the book, I'd appreciate your asking your local library to order a copy anyway.