The Painted Word
Phil Cousineau
Viva Editions
Nonfiction, Language/Reference
**+ (Bad/Okay)
DESCRIPTION: The English language offers a vast palette of colors for speakers and writers, yet most only use a scant handful of tired, drab hues. Even ordinary words
often have extraordinary origins, making them more than mere gray smears on the literary canvas. Logophile Phil Cousineau shares many of his favorites here, with notes on origins and quotes demonstrating usage, along
with paintings by Gregg Chadwick.
REVIEW: I've been known to lose myself in dictionaries, distracted by oddball terms and words, so this looked like an enjoyable read. As promised, Cousineau presents many obscure and interesting words... and several not-so-obscure and not-so-interesting words. It often feels like he's more interested in clever alliteration and
wordplay than providing the promised information about each entry. Several of the quotes fail to utilize the mentioned word or term (the entry on "galore" quotes an actress mentioning the James Bond character Pussy Galore), and I question his knowledge of pop culture. If the author messes up information that a quick Google search can provide, how am I to trust him on more esoteric topics, such as the often-twisted trail of words through the English language's long history? As the book wore on, I found myself reading simply to reach the end, not for the joy of discovering new words. Many entries also include paintings by Gregg Chadwick, but these add little to the experience, never quite capturing the essence of the word they claimed to accompany. (They also looked dull on my Kindle's eInk screen... and no better on my Nook color tablet running the Kindle app, which showed them in grayscale despite the artist waxing poetic on the cinnabar reds and lapis blues he employed in their creation. Maybe the paintings shouldn't have been included in the eBook edition at all, if color wasn't an option.) While I always enjoy being introduced to new (or old, as the case may be) words, I found myself too distracted and annoyed by the presentation and uneven quality of the entries, an annoyance that cost it the half-star it almost earned for some of the truly beautiful gems it brought to light.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words (Josefa Heifetz Byrne) - My Review
Word Watch: A Writer's Guide to the Slippery, Sneaky and Otherwise Tricky (Patricia McLinn) - My Review
- Amazon link
Showing posts with label reference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reference. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Thing Explainer (Randall Munroe)
Thing Explainer
Randall Munroe
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Nonfiction, Reference/Science
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: The world is a complicated place, often made moreso by the complicated words used to explain it. In this illustrated guide, author Randall Munroe, creator of the popular webcomic xkcd, describes a wide variety of stuff using one thousand (or "ten hundred") of the English language's most common, simple words.
REVIEW: From the periodic table ("the pieces everything is made of") and cellular structure ("tiny bags of water you're made of") to jet engines ("sky boat pushers") and padlocks ("shape checkers"), Munroe covers a broad range of subjects of all shapes and sizes. The illustrations often have humorous little touches, adding to the fun of the overall concept. Occasionally, the simplification obscures the meaning, but it gets the general point across, and can be interesting. One flaw in the design, however, is the fold-out pages, which can be damaged by rereads and simply opening and closing the book. The fold-out diagram of a skyscraper ("sky toucher") at at the end is particularly vulnerable, for having the edges pointed in towards the spine. I'm very careful with my books, and I still have unwanted dog-ear creases here after reading it, as a simple matter of paper shifting as the book is read. (I can only imagine what library copies will endure...) All in all, it's an interesting and amusing concept, whether you're a kid just getting interested in science or a grown-up looking to understand the world a little better, but without access to an unabridged dictionary at all times.
You Might Also Enjoy:
What's That? The Oxford Visual Dictionary of Nearly Everything (John A. Pheby) - My Review
Randall Munroe
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Nonfiction, Reference/Science
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: The world is a complicated place, often made moreso by the complicated words used to explain it. In this illustrated guide, author Randall Munroe, creator of the popular webcomic xkcd, describes a wide variety of stuff using one thousand (or "ten hundred") of the English language's most common, simple words.
REVIEW: From the periodic table ("the pieces everything is made of") and cellular structure ("tiny bags of water you're made of") to jet engines ("sky boat pushers") and padlocks ("shape checkers"), Munroe covers a broad range of subjects of all shapes and sizes. The illustrations often have humorous little touches, adding to the fun of the overall concept. Occasionally, the simplification obscures the meaning, but it gets the general point across, and can be interesting. One flaw in the design, however, is the fold-out pages, which can be damaged by rereads and simply opening and closing the book. The fold-out diagram of a skyscraper ("sky toucher") at at the end is particularly vulnerable, for having the edges pointed in towards the spine. I'm very careful with my books, and I still have unwanted dog-ear creases here after reading it, as a simple matter of paper shifting as the book is read. (I can only imagine what library copies will endure...) All in all, it's an interesting and amusing concept, whether you're a kid just getting interested in science or a grown-up looking to understand the world a little better, but without access to an unabridged dictionary at all times.
You Might Also Enjoy:
What's That? The Oxford Visual Dictionary of Nearly Everything (John A. Pheby) - My Review
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