Review of Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus (Hardcover)

Perhaps I will end up buying the Oxford English Reference Dictionary at some point, but presently, this Oxford American Dictionary and Thesaurus 1st Ed is great.I don't care about slang or computer definitions in my dictionary, English has always been English, and while American may be different in spelling, it is still English.Internet, blog, PCMCIA, ARP, .NET, Mono, etc... is in computer books, which is where it should be.I don't expect my dictionary to have the recipe for Rice Balls or the proper pronunciation of this common variation of a Japanese dish, now perhaps coming towards being cross-cultural.I expect that information to be in a cookbook.

However, in words, it's wonderful.Why?That's easy; I believe it's because it had 'anfractuosity' as well as the minimum of 3 decent definitions for 'numinous'.This was the smallest dictionary I could find that had all the words in the Prologue of 'The Problem of Pain' by CS Lewis.Any dictionary that can match words with the vocabulary that CS Lewis expressed is all that I need.

Some other thoughts... I've been reading dictionary reviews for 20 minutes, and I think there are too many people that are trying to get subject specific with their dictionaries.Dictionaries should be ENGLISH specific.It's all this slang, idioms, and subject specific vocabulary that has dropped my vocabulary to sad terms.Between that application, and the genuine desire of individuals around the world to give the wrong definition to words such as feminine, it's no wonder the young are becoming less educated while spending more time in school.

New English... There is no such thing.English is English.It's been essentially the same for much longer than I've been alive.

Still, you should definitely get a dictionary of slang and idioms.It's good to know what people are saying in a specific region/country.





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Review of Roget's Thesaurus of Phrases (Hardcover)

Have you ever been writing and desperately needed another idea for a two-word or longer phrase?Have you consulted your thesaurus and found nothing that matched?If so, this clever thesaurus of phrases is for you.

Some of the thesaurus phrases are fairly technical or formal; for example, Einstein's Theory of Relativity can also be described as the "principle of equivalence" and Darwin's natural selection can be called the "law of the jungle."However, most of the phrases are more colloquial in nature; for example, look up "down-and-out" and you'll find clever substitutes, such as "in the poorhouse" and "on the skids."In addition, a short "phrase maker" section is included at the end of the thesaurus, which provides words that can be paired together.For example, look up "information" and the phrase maker suggests "confidential" or "classified" as modifiers.

This thesaurus is likely to be useful for most any writer, whether your writing is creative or more technical.The only debit is that phrases are not cross-listed, so "in the poorhouse" is not an entry; one has to divine the correct listing for the book to be useful.This problem, however, is a minor inconvenience compared to the likely use writers of all sorts will derive.Highly recommended.



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