Random House Webster's Word Menu
by Stephen Glazier

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Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of Random House Webster's Word Menu

Book Review: An entertaining and useful reference
Summary: 5 Stars

The idea behind this book is to group words into menus just like computer commands are grouped into menus. Glazier implemented this basic idea fairly well when he arranged this book.

The book is split into seven parts (Nature, Science and Technology, Domestic Life, Institutions, Arts and Leisure, Language, and The Human Condition). Each of the parts, in turn, is split into three or four chapters (a total of 25 chapters in all). Each chapter contains one or two levels of subject categories. The words contained in each subject category are listed in alphabetical order.

For example, you need to know the name for a phobia. Look up Part 3 - Institutions, Chapter 13 - Social Sciences, Psychology, Phobias. You can then skim the alphabetical list of phobias for the phobia you're looking for.

While this book is useful, I found it to be very entertaining as well. Flipping through its pages is like going through a linguistic museum of curiousities. (Just reflect on what words you may find under the subject category "Insults, Slurs, and Epithets", and you may get an idea of what I mean.) It is perfect for people who think that vocabulary study is boring.

Two things to consider, though.

1. To get full use out of the book, you must have a feel for how the book is organized. The learning curve is slight, but it is there.

2. Because you are required by the book's format to scan through lists of words, this book was formatted to make it easy to scan. This means that the definitions are sketchy and and there is no pronunciation guide. This is OK so long as you have an excellent dictionary to fill in the gaps left by the Word Menu.

Summary of Random House Webster's Word Menu

Dictionaries & Thesauruses Books

• Subjects > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses
• Foreign Languages > Instruction > English as a Foreign Language
• Words & Language