It's nice to have all the etymological information at hand when ...
589226
Life is so much easier now that I have this dictionary.  It's nice to have all the etymological information at hand when looking up words and trying to decipher translations.
325845
If you are trying to probe the murky past of the British Isles -- the history, the literature, the ethnic patterns, whatever -- this is one of the canonical texts.  You simply need it and that is all there is to it.

This edition is inexpensive, appears to be durable -- which is important with source books -- and what's more to say!
2116157
i think the title says it all -- the examples of word usage are plentiful and up to date and these make this dictionary stand out from the others.
1139781
This is an excellent dictionary for someone setting out to study Spanish on his/her own. Small enough to carry in one hand, but with very readable type, it is both comprehensive and user-friendly.

Each entry is highlighted in blue, with relevant grammatical information, such as gender, or how to conjugate, or the meaning of the reflexive form. The definitions are succinct and to the point. What I have found most helpful is the inclusion, under many of the main headings, of idiomatic phrases in which the word is commonly used, and which would not have been obvious to a novice like myself.

The dictionary is not perfect. I haven't found every word I wanted to look up, but hey--for most situations, it's more than adequate. I would have liked to see some of the word origins, but then, it would no longer have been a little dictionary. All in all, I can recommend this highly to any student of Spanish. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.
3237307
It helps me find meaning with a lot of the words for the church that I don't find in a regular dictionary.  It has been helpful.
3578821
Browsing through this enormous encyclopedia of bakery is something like rummaging through the attic of a centuries-old English house. Everywhere you look, there's something interesting . . . or useful . . . or just fun to know about. Go back on another day and find a whole treasure trove you missed the first time around. And, if you're used to U.S. prose and measurements, Ms. David helpfully defines everything (sometimes as a result of extensive research on her own part) and translates the measurements into terms and proportions we can use here.

I can hardly fathom the amount of research that went into this tome. There are quotations from archaic cookbooks, "receipts" from all over Great Britain and Ireland, historical anecdotes about the housewives and bakers who originated items we still know today (or, in many cases, would never have heard of except for Ms. David's research), good scientific data and analysis, and IT'S FUN TO READ.

What more could an armchair Anglophile, devoted baker, or simply sentient reader want?  This book will be dog-eared and dirty before I ever get tired of reading it!
3236187
Mr. Hoffman not only gives the meaning of surnames, but he supports it with thorough, documented research. You'll also learn some basic Polish language (not being a native speaker I never realized the feminine/masculine differences. More importantly, as a genealogist, I now know to look under "W" in U.S. records for some of my relatives whose surname in Polish is pronounced as a "W" but the letter is an "L" with a slash through it. In English it became an "L").
Many surnames are taken from geologic or natural phenomenon so you'll also learn about the natural history of Poland as well as how the geographic lay of the land influenced the country's history.
I also enjoyed Mr. Hoffman's sense of humor.
Jan 2010 I still reccomend this book and Mr Hoffman's sense of humor!
July 2015 Still a wonderful resource. Mr. Hoffman has some online sites that he contributes to. I'm unclear if giving his url would be inappropriate on amazon, so just do a web search for him and Poland.
4957871
Very nice to have the English, romanization, and original script all presented together.

The translations seem fairly loose - however, they do an admirable job of preserving rhyming scheme and meter. I do wish there were explanations of the double entendres mentioned in the foreword presented with the text, or footnotes explaining the literal meaning of the words in Vietnamese.

The poems themselves are mostly a pleasure to read, many with grin-inducing euphemisms and innuendoes, and several with substantial depth in terms of social and personal commentary. There are few that went over my head as a naive Western reader.

Bumping this up to 5 stars because it's one of the nicest bilingual editions I've ever seen.
561217
Nice reference book with plenty of information in it
2656266
This book seems well researched and is useful to help one understand the word of the past. I am enjoying it immensely.
1642235
The book is a good reference source in my family ancestry research.
2933631
Some of these I've read before, but most of them I've only seen references to - it's great to have them all in one handy collection.  It's also a nice jumping-off point if you want to either confirm a story's veracity or dig deeper into the background story.
3687284
I'll keep this short. It's a great comprehensive guide to obscure words and insults. If you are a fan of such things, or just like learning different words, this is a book for you. It is in dictionary form complete with word, pronunciation, context, definition and the occaisional illustration. Once you read it, you will finally know the proper term for all of those annoying cockalorums, muscods, breedbates and shotclogs you encounter every day. If you want to know what those words are, get the book.
1080765
This is a very helpful 226 pages, British written dictionary.
After the definition of each finding or sign, the author explores anatomical and physilogical links, and the disease where the particular sign can be found. Some explanations are short others are lengthy. He finishes with cross-references to other signs, and suggested readings.
I enjoyed leraning from this dictionary, as it was a successful trial of putting many of the neurological signs in one book. It was really as the title said " Clinical Neurosemiology". As other books, nothing can be perfect, and occasionally (5-10%) I did not find few words, so I give it four stars.
4567929
The Key to the Name of the Rose includes annotated translations of all the Latin that Eco included in his text . The Key also provides a brief chapter on the interaction among semiotics, detective mysteries, and medieval thought and a brief chronology of the Middle Ages. The pearl, however, is the chapter of historical annotations including brief descriptions of the saints, heretics, mythological allusions, and a multitude of medieval figures, both the important and the insignificant. The authors provide just the right amount of information for most readers; a paragraph or two on most. The book's central historical figures, Michael of Cesena, Ubetino of Casale, and Bernard Gui are all there, but so are many others. Peter Abelard, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Prester John each merit an entry.

I still don't understand why Eco wouldn't provide translations at the bottom of the page. In the recent translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky of&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/War-and-Peace-Vintage-Classics/dp/1400079985/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">War and Peace (Vintage Classics)</a>, the hundreds of French passages were included as in the original text, but translated at the bottom of the page without harm to the reader's appreciation that French was the language of the noble class. However, if he had, then perhaps this exceptional little guide would never have been published.

I wish I'd had this guide before I read&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Name-of-the-Rose/dp/B001TIE5GC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Name of the Rose</a>, but it is worthwhile in its own right and an encouragement to re-read Eco's mystery.
2229040
At long last, Pliny Sr.'s complete Natural History is available on Kindle. This is simply the 1855 English translation which is available on Perseus, but there are several things that make this edition commendable. First of all, you're going to have a hard time pulling the entire book from Perseus yourself, so why not pick up this nice copy instead? Secondly, it preserves the well-done formatting while removing the footnotes which work poorly on Kindle. Finally, the complete Latin text is included, as well as two helpful biographies of Pliny, and the book has been made navigable with a table of contents. I like this Kindle publisher, and I may be buying from them again in the future.
3161619
It is very comprehensive and the information is arranged so one can find it easily.  It is hard to rave about a grammar book, but this is as close as I'll get.