Miami Author and Linguist Richard McDorman Publishes Bestselling Essay Series

MIAMI, June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- West Virginia native and long-time Miami resident Richard E. McDorman has published a four-part essay series through Amazon Digital Services. Available for viewing on Amazon's Kindle Digital Reader, the essays explore a variety of areas in the humanities (history, philosophy and law) and social sciences (linguistics, archaeology and political science). During the last year, this series of essays has attracted a wide audience, with all four essays having appeared on Amazon's bestsellers list in at least one category.

Taking advantage of Amazon's latest technology and broad base of readers, McDorman published the first essay in the series (Universal Iconography in Writing Systems), which explains why two undeciphered writing systems share a number of striking similarities, in February 2009. One published review of the work has hailed the essay as "fascinating reading." The second essay in the series (The Development of Government and Religion in the State of Israel) -- a critical examination of the brief history of Israeli democracy -- followed shortly thereafter. However, reaction to McDorman's essay on Israel has been mixed, with one reader assailing the author's stance on ultra-Orthodox Judaism as excessively critical.

Commenting on the third essay in the series (Liberty and Scientific Evidence in the Courtroom), which was published in early 2010, Dr. Susan Haack, one of the world's preeminent modern philosophers and a professor of law and philosophy at the University of Miami, noted that while she disagreed with the essay's main argument regarding how the criminal courts have treated scientific evidence during the last twenty years, "the writing is quite nice." The final essay in the series, Language and the Ancient Greeks and On the Decipherment of Linear B (A Pair of Essays), appeared on Amazon's bestsellers list in three categories during its first month and was ranked number one in sales among all books on the history of Cyprus sold on amazon.com. Three of the four essays are currently ranked on Amazon's bestsellers list in their categories, with all three having reached the top spot in at least one category.

McDorman, who has earned three university degrees in linguistics and humanities (from the University of Virginia, University of Chicago and University of Miami), works as a linguist, language instructor, corporate trainer, and translator in Miami, Florida. An author of language textbooks, critical-historical essays and instructor training manuals, Richard McDorman is a member of the American Translators Association, the American Dialect Society, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the Association of International Educators (NAFSA). He has a variety of research interests in the humanities and social sciences and frequently lectures on linguistics, language studies, and topics related to writing and literacy.

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SOURCE Richard E. McDorman