Wednesday, May 24, 2006

[BookReview] How To Build A Better Vocabulary

Words at Play!!

'How to build a better vocabulary' by Morris Rosenblum, Maxwell Nurnberg is a funny, interesting and engrossing book which

  1. Tells the tale of Origin of Words (Etymology) among other things. Words belong to word-families and it's possible to dissect complex and new words into root words.
  2. Guess meaning of new/complex words from words you already know and given the surrounding context without the need for a dictionary.
  3. A paperback edition, it is available quite cheaply. Though mostly used by TOEFL students it is very interesting :-) 
  4. Many words have interesting stories behind them. Like the phrase 'Cutting the Gordian Knot' which is explained in the book. This phrase is attributed to Alexander the Great.
  5. The book starts every chapter with a funny and apt Cartoon. I especially liked the one which goes - "No, No. This is a stalactite and That is a stalagmite'


Happy Reading.

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