The Thinker's Thesaurus: Sophisticated Alternatives to Common Words Expanded Third Edition

As illustrated above, five full stars for this magnificent collection. For those of us (commonly derided as "nerds") who are enamored of and enthralled by the ineffable beauty of the English language, Meltzer's thesaurus is a rare find: entertaining, educational and provocative, it takes the likely "coffee table book" reader on small journeys which begin with words or phrases and inescapably lead to fascination and further research, most often historical in nature. Those of us possessed of a lifelong respect for the English language recognize the perfect beauty of the perfect word within its perfect context. To speak or write with exquisite precision is a joy, and here we have a new tool in furtherance of such joy.I believe we concommitantly share a growing contempt for the rapidly escalating "dumbing down" of America, as perhaps best (worst?) represented in the atrocity of what I refer to as "textese." And here we face a Gordian knot: wishing to steadfastly cling to a lifelong expanding respect, if not reverence, for the language, while rendering ourselves vulnerable to trite but phillipic labels such as "snobbish." Albeit, to thus dismiss linguistic gems is to indulge in ignoratio elenchi - doubtless it is easier and far more self comforting to the intellectually lazy to cast aspersions on the more articulate and educated than to acknowledge a relative (and likely often volitional) lack of any degree of mastery over the language.Alas, my review would be remiss absent my caveat emptor: my earlier sincere praise notwithstanding, we must be ever vigilant in recognizing that if we utilize words or phrases which we can easily predict will be entirely incomprehensible to our given "audience," then we have altogether failed to achieve the always inherent ultimate goal: TO COMMUNICATE. In summary, please treat yourself to this fascinating volume, but do choose your audience wisely! To Paul E. Meltzer - CHEERS!N.B. I am disinclined to open this topic here, but I promise sometime in a future review readers will be "treated" to my "rant" as regards the seemingly sole use of the internet by students who are conducting research. Apparently for those born in the age of home PCs, the possibilities contained in reference books are wholly ignored; rather, methinks they simply enter a given subject in the inquiry box, and proceed to cut and paste together information captured in the top "hits." Hence, reference books are no longer vital property for students. . . the Wizard of Internet does all the work, and low and behold a paper is written, e.g. compiled. The LACK OF CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS among today's youth is cause for pause and deep regret, if not fear. One doubts, indeed, whether today's students even know how to develop a "thesis" and defend it. Sad to think today's college students have never travelled "the stacks" and likely could not explain the Dewey Decimal System. It begs the question: is technology truly progress? Your opinions are welcome. . .

Certainly, it's not your average thesaurus. It's not "comprehensive" of all of the English language. It specifically deals with eloquence, oddity and obscurity. It's a book for those who want to expand their vocabulary into realms not oft charted, into lands of wonderful, powerful, exotic words. This is a book for lovers of weird words and obscure words, philologists, wordsmiths and men of letters, in other words.Many commons words only list a single "obscure" counterpart, but a good portion have several entries of synonyms or related words.In all, I love this book. This one, The Describer's Dictionary and Weird Words: A Lovecraftian Lexicon are current favorites. I highly recommend all three, if you're into such things (and Lovecraft's eldritch stories, in the case of the latter).

I write novellas and this is unlike any Thesaurus you've ever consulted. You'll enjoy it as have I. Great resource for any writer out there, you won't be disappointed. I don't consult the normal work of Roger Thesaurus of the 19th century, this work will enable you to get that precise meaning for your writing. A Great Resource...you won't be disappointed. My pleasure meter on a scale of 1-5 stars...I give it 10 stars

I would suggest that those considering this book overlook the hypersensitive comments from some who consider this book to be "too conservative", as there is ammunition on both sides. Consider also these choices:Dissension - The OSP is the brainchild of Donald Rumsfeld (to show) that the CIA had overlooked the threat posed by Sadaam Hussein. But its rise has caused massive ructions in the normally secretive world...Effeminate - The world would be poorer without Quentin Crisp. He stood apart from the rest of us, not so much because of his lilac hair and epicene manners as because of his genuine individualism.Enthusiasm - We (now) have America's new all volunteer military, (George W. Bush's) administration's sacred cow, repeatedly used to quell all criticism for the war... Lost in the ceaseless flag-waving and patriotic schwarmerei is the fact that America is the most militarized nation on earth.Evil - The (tobacco) companies' threat is simple. Without their agreement, it may be hard to get rid of advertising to kids. When Bill Clinton heard they were walking (out), he asked disparagingly. "What are they going to do? Say we are going back to advertising to children? Well bless their malevolent hearts , yes.I am confident that those considering reading this book are not as overly sensitive as those who feel threatened by any writings from conservatives.

This book is so good my son took it to college and I had to buy another copy. Who would have thought a book could expand your vocab and not in a way that makes you look pretentious? It is frabjous (wonderful)and a prime exemplum of what a thesaurus should look like. It gives the word an alternative word and the way to use it in a sentance. Since I have already purchased the book twice I suppose that should tell you how much I degustibus this book over others!