Dictionary Reviews

Michael Grant has assembled a valuable dictionary of the classical world. It is one that I often refer to first when I want to know not only the location of a site but some of its history as well

For example, there is a two-page article on Thessalonica. The city was founded c 316 BCE by one of the successors of Alexander the Great. Grant continues his history through the late 5th century CE and ends with a mention of a 1978 earthquake.

Grant's more than 700 page book includes a series of maps which are found at the beginning of the book. There is also a list of ancient sources found in a bibliography at the end of the book.

Readers whose interest focuses upon the Ancient Near East will find that Grant focuses primarily upon the Greco-Roman world. Grant sets a timeframe which usually begins with the first millennium BCE.

And though there are articles on Elephantine, Syria, and Babylon, there are no articles on Sumer, Mari, Israel, and only a handful on any site whose name begins with Tel. Also the short two/thirds page article on Egypt is under Aegyptus.

It's a valuable dictionary. However if one's interest focused upon the Greco-Roman world, one would find Michael Grant's _Guide to the Ancient World_ even more valuable than I did.

Michael Grant proved himself many times over to be a master of the ancient Mediterranean world. The depth of his knowledge was astounding. This guide, like many of his others, offers scholars and laymen alike a comprehensive guide to the ancient Mediterranean world: cities, towns, rivers, countries, mountains, etc. But us goes beyond simple data listings. It is replete with insights into their origins and surrounding history and events, people associated with, the later impact of, and myths and legends of each and place in the book.

Thank goodness Michael Grant was so very prolific and loved to share his immense knowledge with the world. We owe him a substantial debt.

This is the only reference tool I really need as a songwriter. It's helpful when you're looking for that last line to wrap up a tune. I like how it's organized phonetically, & by word endings--you don't have to waste a lot of time finding what you need. For its size and price, it's been incredibly useful.

Once I got the hang of the way this book organizes its rhyming words (which wasn't that difficult), I found this dictionary to be very useful. I especially appreciated not having to deal with the cross referencing necessary with dictionaries organized by spelling. And because it's pocket sized, it's easy to carry around for whenever I'm inspired to write poetry.

This and its predecessor of the late 1980s are the best compendiums of differential equation solution and approximation methods that I have ever seen in terms of (a) comparison of different methods, (b) number of methods compared, (c) description of details of each method, (d) organization such as alphabetizing under each category and categorization of methods, (e) description of and comparison of where each method can be applied in the physical and other sciences, both deterministic and statistical/probabilistic ("stochastic"). This accomplishment cannot be overemphasized from the point of view of Creative Genius - in my opinion, comparing and contrasting and organizing and summarizing data and information are fundamental requirements for creative genius. The book may be intended as a reference book, but it should really be used also as a textbook provided that the teacher overviews the areas and gives some supplementary background and latest results. Both the student and reference user can easily be overwhelmed by the sheer number of methods, and I would recommend putting short descriptions of each (1-2 lines on front and 1-2 lines on back) on flash cards to keep them and their relationships fresh in your mind (shuffle the cards, learn them backwards and forwards, learn them alphabetically, in separate categories, then non-alphabetically and in mixed up categories, etc.). I would recommend that future editions list some of the unsolved equations and open research questions in the field.

For anyone that finds differential equations beautiful; for the theoretical scientist in whatever field; this is nearly as indispensable as Abromowitz and Stegun (The Big Ugly Blue Book).

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Alongside the only other review, mine might seem superfluous. I am, however, in complete agreement with Edwin Jake Peterson on this one.

Kamiya's text is well layed out, filled with excellent, informative - though not overwhelming - charts, descriptions, definitions and explanations. On the first read I understood why all my adjective and adverb use in Japanese was so incomplete.

Rather than repeat Peterson's review I would like to emphatically endorse this is as an exemplary Japanese Language teaching and learning aid. I am surprised that it is not more widely available and used.

If there is only one book on Japanese adjectives and adverbs worth purchasing, it is this book, completely peerless in terms of quality of presentation, information and style. I'd reccommend this for any learner of Japanese at any stage.

I've been studying japanese for quite some time, and I wasn't even aware of how the japanese adjectives can conjugate just like verbs. I thought that the only conjugation's that adjectives possessed were the Plain/ Polite Past/Present, and negative/affirmative, as well as the -ba, -tari, -tara, and the -sa form. But turn's out that this is just part of the basic's. Just like with verbs the basics would be the -te form, the -ba form etc. to which you can add diffrent ending's to, to give diffrent meaning's to the verb, you can do the same with the Adjectives. This book is great for studying japanese adjectives. Now for the adverbs, the adverbs section is really good, they give you a bundle of words all sectioned off into categories according to time, quantity, degree, circumstance, onomatopoeic words (A MUST READ), adverbs used with negatives, adverbs with diffrent meaning's with positive and negative expressions, interrogative adverbs, adverbs used with conditionals, adverbs expressing desire, conjecture, or resemblence. As you can see, the list is long, and very helpfull, the most helpfull part of the adverbs section (to me) were the onomatopoeic words, and adverbs with diffrent meanings ith positive and negative sentences. If you buy this book, it will save you ATLEAST a good 10 hours of tedious looking up definition's for words, research, and so on.. because this book does it all, and not only that. Every few lessons or so, this book provides a pratice to see how well you have mastered what you have learned. Over all I give this book a perfect 5 out of 5, for it's great layout and great approach to learning japanese adjectives and adverbs. (I also recommend you buy "The handbook of japanese verbs" 'it's sister book', and "Jpanaese verbs at a glance" these two books give the most information you can learn about the conjugation of japanese verbs) Well, I hope this was a helpfull review, thanks for reading it. Bye.

If you are a reader of Russian Literature, or simply a lover of encyclopedias, dictionaries and other reference works, "Handbook of Russian Literature" is something you might want in your library. The "Handbook" has nearly one thousand entries, large and small, providing comprehensive coverage, in a single volume, of every aspect of Russian literature during the past ten centuries. A large format book with small print and double columns on each page, the "Handbook" contains entries written by over one hundred leading scholars and ably edited by Victor Terras.

The entries range from one or two lines to several thousand words over several pages. There are biographical entries of Russian authors, little and well known, as well as entries on various genres, historical periods, literary movements, literary journals and periodicals, and critical theories. Each entry includes a bibliography and, in addition, there is a useful general bibliography, broken out by historical periods, at the end of the book. The "Handbook" is, in other words, a perfect reference and entrée into the world of Russian literature. I find myself dipping into this book often, at random, and never fail to learn something new and interesting. I also use it as a valuable source of background reading when I sit down to read a Russian author.

The only shortcomings of the "Handbook" are that its print is very small (allowing the book, of course, to cram an immense amount of information in less than 600 pages) and that it devotes little coverage to authors of roughly the last quarter of the twentieth century, including some of the so-called "dissident" authors who wrote in the years immediately preceding publication (a shortcoming, however, that is excusable because most of the research for the "Handbook" was done in the early 1980s and the book was published in 1985). Also, while the bibliographies are useful for the casual reader, serious research requires reference to more recent sources.

This is a great book for anybody who is studying or likes reading Russian Literature. It has an informative article on practically every Russian writer that you'll need to know about, although a few of the more contemporary ones are omitted.

In addition to providing a thorough biographical sketch for each author, it also mentions the major works of each author and gives critical opinions and brief analyses of many of the works. The major translations available are listed at the end of each entry.

I like reading the sketch on an author before I begin reading his or her work. It provides a great introduction.

Both the book and the cassette tape are terrific. The cassette tape provides a simple to follow introduction to the Japanese language, breaking down the pronunciation one syllable at a time. It contains both the English meaning as well as the Japanese words and phrases. I enjoy listening to the tape over and over again in my car to review. The book is also very useful because it contains a lot of words and phrases, much more than what's in the cassette tape. It also contains a small English/Japanese dictionary. Over all, this book/cassette is really "handy".

Great book. (I wrote it!

I learned everything I know about grammar and usage from this book! It was a gift to me as a teenager and it guided me to A's throughout high school and college. Who would have thought a dictionary could actually be FUN to read? Well this one is because it poses a multitude of common problems in contempory usage, e.g. "to split or not to split infinitives", and then lets a range of academics and humorists tackle them. The results are both enlightening and amusing.

Too bad its out of print.

Ain't, copacetic, happily, hopefully--if these make your skin creep you should check out the Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage. The authors have solicited opinions from a varied group of successful users of the USAmerican language, such as: Saul Bellow, Walter Cronkite, and Andy Rooney.

This is a great book to have as a reference as you study the Bible or just to browse through when you have a few spare moments. This book has been put together by leaders in the study of religions. It is not biased toward any sect within Christianity. The information is backed up with references to the original documents.

A great companion to the Harper Collins Study Bible.

I became aware of this volume while leading a Disciple II Bible study group. This volume is an excellent source for familiarizing yourself with almost any topic of interest from the Bible. I have been checking other sources and have not yet found another to be as helpful and readable as the Harper Collins Bible Dictionary. We have made it a part of the resource library for our congregation's youth church school class.

This was a key reference throughout my undergraduate days at Wesleyan University. The reference room had a first edition copy. If I'd had my own, I'd have probably spent FAR less time in the library. The OCD just didn't cut it. This was my indispensible companion studying Plato.

This volume is, in my opinion, the most comprehensive and accesible available in English. I can't remember a single time that this failed to illuminate the obscure asides and references in Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Herodotus, and the Tragedians. So, as far as the Greeks are concerned, this is the one to have. I'll leave it to someone else focused on the Romans to offer that perspective.

This is a massive text, contining the most comprehensive information on ancient peoples and how the lived, loved and worked. A must for the ancient history lover, Numismatist or collector of antiquities. For instance, what is a fibulae...you'll find out here not only what it is but how they were manufactured, used and distributed. What about a domis? It's in there too. Everything in alphabetical order. The only drawback is that the massive size of this volume restricts its portability. But, it's well worth this minor inconvenience for the content