Dictionary Reviews

I am a scholar and avid fan of Ernest Hemingway. Only after devouring Dr. Mardy's Grothe groundbreaking collection of literary treasures did I realize that Hemingway too employs the chiastic trick in much of his writing. Dr. Grothe's book inspired me to reread many of the author's literary masterpieces as well as his letters and interviews. Sure enough, I found chiasmus popping up here and there in Hemingway's written and spoken statements. I was truly dumbfounded that the author used the technique so frequently. "Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You" is an enlightening, expertly selected goldmine of profound insights and immortal truths that is sure to have a significant impact on the way each of us views and uses language. It even prompted me to pen my own chiastic observation in regards to the recent Hemingway centennial: 'Only in the case of Hemingway could the century of the writer be more celebrated than the most celebrated writer of this century.

Dr. Mardy Groethe not only introduced me to the literary deviceof chiasmus, but completely engaged and entertained me with his bookon the subject. The book is truly a joy! Dr. Groethe's chiasmi span from old to new, from light to meaningful, from humorous to serious. He shows how chiasmus are used by everyone: from poets to politicians, from writers to actors, from coaches to philosophers. Adding to the book is how Dr. Groethe organizes it, essentially enabling the reader to find a chiasmus for any occasion. It's no surprise to me that "Never Let A Fool Kiss You..." is the 8th best-selling quotation book in amazon.com's history (as of 1/10/00) and going strong!

A new lover of chiasmus, I visited Dr. Groethe's website immediately after reading his book and signed up to receive free daily chiastic quotes directly from him!

For the nutshell skip down to ---THE POINT---. If you like to get lost in circular reasoning, by all means read the whole thing. Just be patient if you do; it may seem as if I've gone off on a tangent, but I promise to come full circle. In order to deal with story problems we are taught that mathematical functions have lingual transitions. An example of this is would be: = means "as", and 2 = terms are said to be "like". As with translations between any two languages inevitably something is lost in the transition. In this instance we see that while = means "as" or "like", neither "as" nor "like" means =. In grammar we are taught that "as" and "like" are keywords for simile (which means comparison, from the Latin "similis" meaning similar). Which leads to the next issue; Do the laws of mathematics have a lingual transition? One of the most fundamental laws of math is: A x B = B x A; which would read: the product of A and B is like the product of B and A. While porcelain is the product of heat and clay, the product of heat and clay is not always like porcelain. The heat and the clay must have the same value in order for the comparison to work. I have never learned the English translation for the absolute value sign used in mathematical formulas, but I would imagine it would be "chiastic". Chiasmus seems to imply in its mathematical similarity that it is a capable vehicle for absolute truths. Certainly this book is an insight into truth, or this book is truth into insight, or maybe this truth is a book into insight, perhaps this insight is a book into truth, possibly this insight is truth into a book, or it could be that this truth is insight into a book. I seem to have gotten even myself confused. Lao-Tzu wrote that "He who talks does not know, he who knows does not talk", he also wrote that "The Way of which we are able to speak, is not the Way of which we speak". So why all the words if they are all in vain? The Buddhists have an insightful metaphor (defined by Aristotle as: The intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars) for the reason for words despite their futility "fingers pointing at the moon" (the moon symbolizing enlightenment in Buddhism). ------THE POINT?------ Simply that this is a much better book, than this is a review. Dr. Grothe's fingers apparently do a much better job at pointing to the moon than do mine. Where my words have led you deep into the murky waters of samsara, his become the Jewel in the lotus and the lotus in the Jewel. I hope I haven't driven you away from what truly is an inspired book. *** P.S. Sorry Mardy, I had to, Jer.1:7

While I agree with all the comments of previous reviewers on this little gem of a book, I feel that it is incumbent on me to point out what this book is, and what it is not. It is not a general review of Spanish slang. It was not meant to be, and while it covers a fair amount of slang, it is more in the sense of pointing out those types of colloquialisms that are long-standing and which the foreigner should understand when he or she hears them, e.g., common and universal obscenities. For an extensive review of colloquialisms along with background on the ones that are peculiar to specific areas of the Hispanic world, the book "Streetwise Spanish" is a better choice.

However, in the field of discussing the basic nuts and bolts of standard spoken Spanish, there is simply no better book on the market than this one. It is true that Joseph Keenan's recent offering, "Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish" offers more in the way of colloquial grammar points, but "Cassell's Colloquial Spanish" will acquaint you with the the sort of vocabulary that you will hear the most often at home, on the street, in the classroom or the office or anywhere else you may end up. If you learn what's in this book you'll be able to communicate effectively 95 percent of the time. What's more, the book is a good read, good enought even to be a bedside book. There aren't many language books you can say that about.

This wondrous work has been at my side, in my car, and on my bedside table since I found it quite by accident about two years ago. I have shared this book with Spanish students, native Hispanics, and English grammarians, all of whom have appreciated it as much as I have. I must agree with the other reviewers that the only thing wrong with it is that there isn't a part two, because in a language so rich with words--and diversity within its speakers--there are so many entries left to cover.

The writer is gentlemanly,clever,humorous,and accurate all at the same time. Don't miss this one.

I can't say enough good things about this little gem. It's an outstanding reference book. The author's mastery of Spanish is rather humbling, but he is able to convey a great deal of knowledge using a writing style that is both relaxed and very enjoyable to read.

This book is a sort of Spanish-to-English dictionary, but it doesn't simply list English equivalents of a Spanish word the way a regular bilingual dictionary does. It goes into a discussion of the word in question and explains the little nuances and shades in meaning in a way that most dictionaries never come close to doing. The definitions given include examples and anecdotes that put the words in context to help the reader better grasp their meaning. When necessary, the author is always careful to point out the various meanings a particular word might have in different parts of the Spanish-speaking world. Further, the author is not afraid to list "off-color" or vulgar words in an attempt to save the reader from unwittingly making a fool of him or herself by using the wrong word in the wrong part of the world.

My only "complaint" is that this book isn't even longer and more exhaustive than it is (it's 303 pages), although the book's relative brevity makes it easier to completely read and digest. Still, a second volume that picks up where this one leaves off would be wonderful to have.

I've lived in South America and have a four-year college degree in Spanish, yet I still learn something new (or relearn something I've forgotten) every time I pick up this book. Students of all ability levels from beginning to very advanced will benefit from this work. That said, I think most beginning students will already have enough on their hands with learning the nuts and bolts of Spanish grammar and acquiring a basic vocabulary. For that reason, I tend to think that a book of this type is better suited for intermediate and up students. Along with a good dictionary like the Larousse Gran Diccionario, this is a must-own reference book for any serious student of the Spanish language.

I checked this book out of my local library, and kept renewing it until I couldn't renew it anymore. understanding how to look the kanji up is a little confusing at first, since the method is completly different from english dictionaries. instead of looking up kanji phonetically, you look the characters up by the base strokes used to create them. I have to admit, the first thing i started to translate was not from a textbook. it was a doujinshi, or japanese fan comic. i was able to find almost all of the kanji i looked for. it is a very comprehensive list of all the kanji you're likely to encounter. i highly recommend it to help you in translations and so forth. a drawback to this book is its size though. it's gargantuan. unless you have a very strong back or are slightly masochistic this is a reference book for home use only. it is also time consuming to search through all the entries to find the kanji you need to know. despite that, this is still a great kanji dictionary.

This is my only Kamji dictionary, so I don't really have a comparison for it, but I find it extremely useful. The option to look up compounds by any of the kanji is of immense utility to me. I have a more divided opinion on the simplified radical system they use. I don't know how much more difficult it would be to search through all 214 radicals rather than the 79 that Hadamitzky and Spahn use, but i do have occasional problems deciding which radical to use when none seem to match exactly. They do include a feature to help in this regard. Similar looking kanji are listed in the chart under the wrong radical with a pointer to the correct entry. All in all a worthy tome and one which sees great usage in my hands.

I've studied Japanese for 5 or so years now, and bought "The Kanji Dictionary" after I began to outgrow my first, smaller kanji dictionary. Even though I consider myself an advanced learner of Japanese, I have not felt the need to buy a "Japanese" Kanji dictionary yet: this one by Spahn and Hadamitzky has more than met my needs. Here are some of this dictionary's plusses:

-Just about every kanji or kanji compound you can think of is included (they claim 47,000+ compounds which sounds about right).

-The look-up system is easy to use, and the index is similarly helpful

-The appendices are surprisingly interesting and informative, including information ranging from the reigns of the emperors to geography to even a list of the most frequent Japanese surnames.

My only possible complaints are:

-not enough radicals: they chose to categorize the kanji using 79 radicals instead of the 214 historical radicals. This resulted in almost 300 kanji that are "without" a radical, all lumped together at the beginning of the dictionary by the number of strokes. Many of these are very common kanji, which can cause frustrations if you're trying to figure out which radical to look up only to find that it's in the "no radical" section.

-it would have been great if they'd had accent markings to show how the characters are pronounced. In Japanese, context and an accent shift are the only difference between saying "Let's have success!" and "Let's have sex!" (sex and success are both romanized "seikoo"). Native Japanese presumably know the difference in pronunciation, but learners of a second language are not as likely. This can result in awkward situations. Knowing the correct accent in general makes you much more understandable, and it is a shame that most dictionaries don't include this information.

Overall though, this is a great dictionary. I highly recommend it for beginners, experts, and everyone in between!

Far and away the best dictionary of quotations. If you are to buy only one dictionary of quotations, make it this one. An essential resource for the individual, home, and office. Wonderfully varied sources, from the Bible and Koran, from modern times and antiquity, from English and foreign sources. It is very easy to use, intuitive, with succinct and clear instructions. The organization of the dictionary is also simple and straightforward, with alphabetical organization by source/author and major themes. The dictionary portion of the book is also broken up well with boxed special sections, addressing such subjects as advertising slogans, last words, misquotations, sayings and slogans, toasts, etc.

The dictionary has a comprehensive (283 pages) keyword index. If you can't find your subject/theme/author/source/concept/first line here, it's not in the book.

There is also a very disappointing "Selective Thematic Index." The idea is excellent, but the execution is poor. There are not nearly enough themes (44) offered for this dictionary spanning 841 pages. Furthermore, entries in the selective thematic index and keyword index have not been reconciled. For example, "Administration" in the thematic index yields 17 entries, while the keyword index lists only two.

Taken as a book for reading and consumption, it is fascinating, even if a bit dense. There are gems on just about every page, insights into history, people, the sources' thoughts and movitavtions. Spurs to the reader's contemplation abound. Admittedly, slogging through 41 pages of quotations from the Bible, 21 pages of proverbs, or 51 pages of Shakespeare can be daunting. But then you will stumble upon the incredible "We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant" from Austrian-born philosopher Karl Popper (587).

I heartily recommend this superb reference and enjoyable read.

"The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations," 5th ed., sits on my crowded "reference" book shelf next to "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language." I consult both books on an almost daily basis.

Compared to "Bartlett's," I find this book to be modern, witty, organized, and original. Whether one is looking for a perfect quote for an online "profile" or a quip for an oral presentation, this book of quotes will serve its reader well.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations is more than simply a collection of words people have spoken. It's a summary of the best of our spoken and written language - the Greek and Latin authors, Dante, The Bible, Shakespeare, the English Poets, Winston Churchill, and just about every other essential literary or historical work of the last two thousand years. In a sense, the ODQ is not so much a collection of famous sayings as it is a single volume summary of western literature you can use to track down a line from a poem or novel as well as a phrase from a famous speech. This is an essential reference work for anyone interested in literature or history and should be part of any home library alongside such frequently used books as a dictionary or encyclopedia.

This is an excellent resource for someone new to doing word studies. It includes Strong's Concordance numbers for each word making it easy to differentiate between various meanings. You do not need to know the original language to find the original meaning. I use it in conjunction with either Strongs Exhaustive Concordance or with Zodhiates Word Study Bible. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to do further research and get more accurate information from their Bible study.

While the Word of God is divinely inspired, (Paul writes that all scripture is given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and I firmly believe this), sometimes the modern translations loose the impact of the original Greek writing.

The New Testament has 4 seperate and distinct words that our English translations generically call "love". This shows us that when the scriptures are examined in the original meaning and context, they become even more powerful and instructive.

Vine's does an excellent job of providing the context of the word you are looking up, providing a thorough understanding of the exact meaning of the verse. This kind of knowledge will add power to your preaching, teaching, or personal study. I have found that doors to deeper understanding have been opened by seeing the information that this edition of Vine's provides. When used in concert with Strong's concordance, it is a powerful tool.

I heartily endorse this book. It should be used by every believer to discover for themselves the deeper things of God.

Vine's has stood the test of time and proven itself as a valuable reference work for scholar and layman alike.

Although the book does not define every word in the Bible, it does cover many of the most theologically important words in a very thorough fashion.

This version of Vine's contains White's Old Testament dictionary which is superior to the original Vine's Old Testament dictionary which was incomplete. Together with the New Testament dictionary, it forms a solid word study tool for anyone interested in going deeper into God's Word.

Highly recommended.

This book answered every single question that I threw at it, and gave me so much more! The best money I've spent in a while! Short to the point answers, not complicated biology lessons. I will enjoy it thoroughly, and am fighting off my sister-in-law for reading time!

416 pages of information you need to know to help you with your garden. In the Contents is a wondeful pages index. It's from A to Z. Whatever you are planting, buying or building or need information on good benefical bugs or the bad pests, it is all here. Climate, Architectural Plants, Colors, Fragrance, Herbs, Inside the House, Nature, Period Gardens, Projects & Crafts, Heirloom Roses, Tools, Vintage Vegetables and Wildflower Gardens. Any questions you may have about gardening and any fruit or vegetable, bush or tree, Reader's Digest will have the answer for you in this book.

This book is a wonderful resource for gardening. You will find all the answers to your questions and more. There are great ideas on setting up gardens, container planting, lawn care and general information of all types of plants. I have pulled it out several times already this spring. The set-up lets you find what you are looking for from A to Z.

This book was very helpful on my recent trip to Beijing, but only because I've had a few years of formal Mandarin classes. If you've never taken any Chinese, this book, or any phrasebook for that matter, may not be of much help simply because of the difficulty of the language. Believe me, even after 3 years of Chinese I still had trouble getting cab drivers to understand me!

Even if you've been studying Chinese for a while this phrasebook will be a great resource for a multitude of day to day words and phrases. In fact, I often just read it page to page as sort of an interesting textbook. I love that it includes both the pinyin with tones and the characters side by side. Unfortunately, there are more than a few editing errors with the characters which could cause problems if you're using the book by pointing at phrases. Another issue is that the pronunciations often include the "er" ending on words which is only a Beijing thing, not heard much in the south.

Overall it is a great book that managed to survive being thrown around in my backpack, and now that I'm back home it will be useful as a textbook as there are still MANY words in it I have yet to learn.

I've been to China twice now and I did not have this book on my first trip. But I brought it on my second. The book isn't very helpful for knowing how to actually speak it. But it was helpful to pull it out and show the person the Chinese characters so that they understood what you were trying to tell them. I just started Chinese with a Tutor and I'll be taking Chinese courses when I'm a full time college student. My goal is to study in China on my third year. As I begin to speak Chinese, this book will be wonderful to remind me of how to say words and phrases.

I'm not a scholar of Mandarin although I have completed the Pimsleur Mandarin course level 1. My experience as a relative novice was that this book was extremely useful.

Every Chinese person that I showed it to, when trying to communicate, also thought it was very good and several asked where they could buy it. I looked in Beijing and couldn't find it.

Chinese pronunciation is fairly difficult although grammar is straightforward. I've got by in Vietnam in the past with the Lonely Planet's Viet phrasebook without any previous tuition. If you can retain phrases and remember to transliterate words down quickly before you forget then even this book on its own would be very handy. Pinyin is frequently not pronounced how a Westerner would expect from its spelling. For example the word "wo" for "I" is pronounced like "war" and not "woe".

John Gribbin's "Schrödinger's Kittens" was a revelation for
the casual reader with an interest in particle physics. In "Q is
for Quantum" these amazing insights are presented in short,
succinct, manageable 'quanta'. Many of these statements and models
baffle, and read like the pronouncements of a first-century Gnostic on
how the universe and the fabric of reality are ordered. The difference
is that all these statements are buttressed by experiments and
mathematical models. Moreover, they are often ratified to a staggering
degree of accuracy.

How can we believe that reality is radically
altered by our observation of it? Even to the extent that our
observations of distant quasars today affect the way the light
emerged from them 10 billion years ago? How can particles be at two
places at once? How does every charged particle on the other side of
the Andromeda galaxy (2 million light years away) instantaneously
"know" if we poke an electron here on earth (see the entry
on "transactional interpretation")? I would suggest you read
the introduction to this book, and then the entry on "double-slit
experiment" and, as the author suggests, " ...follow your
nose from there." These shed light, albeit it a dim ray, on the
central mysteries of quantum mechanics.

Every question i've ever had concerning particle physics, has been anwsered! You don't need to be a nuclear physicist to understand "properties" of this book. It relates to all in the quantum world.

If you read physics popularizations you have noticed (and appreciated) the glossaries that appear in the back of many of these books. If you've wanted a more thorough reference resource for quantum physics terminology -- here it is. Reference texts are not generally going to tempt the reader to start at the beginning and read through the entire volume, but this one will. Gribbin, familiar to many readers of physics books, writes clearly and covers all of the significant developments, personalities, and ideas of particle physics over the past century. An excellent resource, from 'Absolute zero' to 'Z particles.'

This is an enormously important reference work for anyone who would like to check if a historical or contemporary figure was or is a religious believer. Most standard encyclopedias will provide whole biographies of important persons, but obscure the fact they had grave doubts about God. Many of the fathers of the American Revolution were not Christians, but deists who accepted only the existence of a prime mover not Jesus. This does not prevent foolish, uninformed believers from claiming this country was founded as a "Christian" nation.

Smith will be criticized for many of his difficult choices and assertions. The book distinguishes between major entries, real unbelievers; minor entries of persons who only wrote something related to unbelief, and peripheral entries. To assess a person's belief is always difficult. Our concepts of religion and faith are arbitrary. Different convictions may be expressed in various writings, and belief may change over time. In addition, many persons had reason to obscure their doubts or pretend to a faith they did not share. For this reason, very few modern American politicians will be found in Hell.

Readers will find some good humor, many Nobel laureates in science, literature, and peace, as well as most important philosophers and a few statesmen in Hell. Mark Twain had it truly right when he suggested we go to "Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company." No religious or secular library should be without this book.

This is a really unusual book which is entertaining enough to pick up and read from cover to cover. However I think its real value is that it is an interesting and detailed reference book.

Have you ever read a horror novel that makes reference to some obscure demon up from the pits of Hell? This book will tell you all about it. Or some historical romance which makes reference to someone who spoke out against the church? Again, you'll find them here. As well as all manner of people who have spoken out against all manner of things throughout history and from all faiths and view points.

It was the title that made me pick it up in the first place, and I think the suggestion is that these are people/things who would populate the under-world. Rather tongue in cheek I think, but eye catching just the same.

So if you are a serious reader and you like interesting reference books, pick up a copy of this. You may surprise yourself at how often you look at it - it is full of fascinating things!

This is one of the best books I have ever read and one of the few I will read again. It is one of the books of which I read every word instead of as I sometimes do, scanning a page without losing any of the plot. I wanted to read every word. In this book not a word was wasted. Robert Chalmers has a gift of knowing and understanding human beings of today and is able to describe them so well I feel I know them all. I was in the cafe with Daniel Linnell and his companions. I was with him deciding the characters to go in his book Who's Who In Hell. I do not want to give the story away but if you want a true life exciting read this is the book for you. You will feel sorrow, happiness, and all the emotions of the characters. I can't wait to read his next book

This is, by far, my favorite name book. Each entry is clear and well organized with a little summary behind each name, including origin and meaning. Unlike many other name books, nicknames and spelling variations are, for the most part, reasonable and don't venture too far out into the land of absurdity and uselessness. It's not about quantity, but quality of names.

The entry pages include, among other things, a look back at naming trends over the last century and the reassurance that some names, no matter how far into the future we go, will always stand the test of time. There's also advice on selecting a middle name, and a few sensible rules for picking the perfect name.

You are sure to be appreciated by your son or daughter for selecting name from this book - "A to Z Listings of Thousands of Names : BABY NAMES a new generation" by Barbara Kay Turner. This book has thousands of names, the source of the names, how-to-spell them, famous people bearing the respective names, alternative for the name and many more. Many pages have a small box at the bottom with "Less common classics : New, Unusual Names". This makes your job still easier. The meanings of the names are very appropriate and convincing. You are sure to get appreciated by your son or daughter, i.e the new generation.

Cover page is really lovely covering varieties of babies - black , white, cute etc. Girls names and boys names are separately listed with most approriate meanings. Meanings are very convincing.Each name has variants after the meaning. Totally it is worth its value.