The Thinker's Thesaurus: Sophisticated Alternatives to Common Words

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. . .

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!

Not sure what I was looking for, but I like it.

I started it January 14. I'm plowing through it A to Z, in a strictly abecedarian march. I hope to finish the letter B before the Super Bowl, and Z by Thanksgiving. The word selection is advanced, The definitions concise & tachlis. The examples are recent and fill out the meaning. It's better than a vocabulary book if you are trying to prepare for an SAT type exam. It's better than a first generation thesaurus if you are trying to find the word that gives a special nuance.

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

This thesaurus is very entertaining, but not really useful for writing. Only one or two very out-there and sometimes hilarious words are listed for each entry. If you like words in general, get it. Don't get it for first-year English composition or any serious thesaurus needs.

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).

LOVE the book ... HATE the source from which the book was mailed!!!! I ordered only ONE book! That is 1 as in ONE, as in EINE, as in UNA, as in A SINGLE COPY !!! When the acknowledgement was sent, I replied with correction of number of copies. When the packageS arrived, there were 2 copies of the book. That is TWO. As in 2. As in ZWI. As in DUO. As in MORE THAN ONE COPY!!! I returned the UNORDERED duplicate copy stating that it was NOT ordered, and informed the company I would pay for ONE copy ONLY!!!! I HAVE THUS STATED TO AMERICAN EXPRESS, AND WILL SEND THEM A COPY OF THIS NOTE ALSO. Even the most math-deficient person can at least count to 2 --- or so I thought until I met YOU!!! I will pay for only one single copy of this publication, no matter from whence it comes!!!! GOT IT????!!!

This is a unique, insightful and useful compendium of distinctive alternatives to common words. True enough, in common speech and writing we may opt for plain language, but there’s also cases where characterful words are an advantage. Sometimes the usual alternatives found in regular thesauruses may not contain the specific nuances we’re looking for, but we'll likely find them here. There’s so many intriguingly-sounding alternatives in the English language that we may as well use them, so this is a great place to start. The Thinker’s Thesaurus covers a wide range of words: words that we may never use unless in exceptional circumstances to words that will easily fit into our vocabulary and find a use for sooner or later. The book clearly explains the alternatives and uses examples from modern usage and sources so we know we’re not getting antiquated examples rarely used nowadays. The author states a raft of reasons why we should consider adding distinguishing words to our vocabulary, and it’s difficult to fault his reasoning. We may find that we get more from our reading too, as unless we stick to the most basic reading matter, it’ll only be a short while before words pop up that we don’t fully understand and need to clarify. We don’t necessarily need an encyclopaedic knowledge of obscure words; just a smattering of alternatives will often do. For instance, most people know what divination means, but it’s nice to know some substitutes that might work instead in certain situations (such as mentioned in the book): pyromancy (divination by fire), bibliomancy (divination by the random picking of bible passages) and psychometry (divination by the holding of personal objects). Right enough, these examples aren’t the sum of the mantic (another word mentioned in the book) arts but they’re good for a start. And writing of mantic, there's also the charming, sibylline -- not necessarily a highbrow word, but one sufficient to make an interesting difference. What about higgledy-piggledy for disorderly (as in haphazard)? That’s a word many of us probably already use. Then there's the wonderfully picturesque bacchic (as in bacchic excess) for drunken. For dumb, we might not necessarily use schmegeggy unless in special circumstances, but there’s dullard instead, which is a reasonable and easily-remembered alternative. This is the beauty of the book: there’s words that can be used on many levels. We can sound highfalutin if we so wish or we can skilfully add (and understand) words in intelligent conversation, or just colour our ordinary speech and writing to give it gravitas and a memorable ring. Similarly, the foreign phrase examples may or may not have their uses but it's still worth learning a few as they do tend to crop up from time to time. As comprehensive as it is, the Thinker's Thesaurus may not cover every eventually, but there’s more than sufficient to make it a valuable asset and unique learning aid. Even if we grab a handful of alternatives here and there then the book’s still useful and worth more than the purchase price. There’s isn't an index but it’s easy to scroll through the contents on a Kindle (which I use) and presumably to flip through the pages in the print version. It’s geared towards an American English market rather than a British English one, but there’s still plenty in it to make it a worthwhile addition for people in the UK. I'm enthusiastic about this book and think it’s an ideal and advantageous adjunct to a standard thesaurus to cover all eventualities. Definitely a recommended buy.

Book arrived with damaged cover & pages everywhere. Not happy. Looks used & was not cheap.

TOP quality book

You cannot even reach the base word with kindle version.

一般的なシソーラスと違い、１単語につき１つ２つの特異な単語の説明があるのみです。なぜかフランス語の割合も多く（Thinker's Thesaurusというだけあって、知識人がフランス語を多用するからでしょうか、、？）、学習者・翻訳家にはあまり役立ちそうにありません。英語を第一カ国語とする物書きの方がwordingに行き詰まったときにはよい かも しれませんね。