Rating: 
Summary: It is a fun book
Review: Hi, I am a High School student who has been in America for two years, I have to take a test called SSAT, so I needed to learn a lot of words, and so I bought this book try to remember all words with in a month. And I did. The words are really beautiful. And 75% of the words my classmats didn't know, teachers were surprised when I used some of the words. So this is a good book both for Taking Huge Tests and become a more literate person. What's so special about this book is it's like the author is talking to you, it is not boring at all, every word has several example sentences, and most of those centences are very funny, deeply involved with literature, current histry or just funny little things. It also gives the origin of the words, which is cool, but I did not find helpful. I really suggest you to buy it. But of course, no matter how fun it is, it's still a vocab book, so you might get frustrated and bored, and just throw it away. And also, it is very small, put it in your pocket, read it on a bus, when you are waiting, or in the bathroom! :=) Fan
Rating:
Summary: Best vocaburary learning aid
Review: I admire 1000 most important words. It explains about a word in detail by using various interesting facts, example sentences, words of famous people, and lines from a famous play. It is far more interesting than dictionary although I recommend you to check this book after looking up a word in a dictionary. It will give you clearer idea of a word and help you to familialize with it. Not only this book is helpful but also this book is very much fun just to read it in a way you read regular novels. It is a shame that this book is out of print. I believe this book is one of the best vocaburaty guides. I use princeton review's word smart, 1100 words you should know, and hot words for SAT along with this book, but this one is the only one I do not mind reading in bed before I go to sleep. It is that much fun simply to read this book!
Rating:
Summary: This is a useful book!
Review: I always look for a good words book, finally I find it.
The workds are very useful to my speech and writing.
Rating:
Summary: enhanced my "functional" vocabulary
Review: I originally learned English is a non-native environment, and always struggled with the low correlation between spelling and the "non-intutive" pronunciations, and other exceptions in English. Many of these words were difficult to pronounce [correctly, for me] and, therefore, my functional vocabulary was much less than its passive counterpart. Sometimes I didn't use these words for the fear of missing - either the pronunciation, or the context, nuances etc. I have used several vocabulary books in the past, but this is the only one which had 90%+ words that are very "usable" and will truly enrich my speech. I have a much better "feel" for these 1000, and many of them will soon be part of my written and spoken language. The phonetic transcription presented with the words was also of great value (the key to my "active" vocabulary). The best $[money] I have ever spent on a word book. Speech, language, and communication is what makes us effective (and human too!), and I am glad to have read this.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome book! The author gives wonderful examples. Buy it!
Review: I've had this book (an his other book 1000 important common
words) for over 10 years and I still consider them the "Bibles"
of vocabulary building books! I can't praise them enough!
A MUST buy for anyone serious (and those not so serious!) about building
their vocabulary.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect for a Polymath?s Prolix Persiflage
Review: In his introduction to this lexicon, Norman Schur discusses the difference between an active vocabulary and a passive one. Words designated as "active" are those used regularly while the passive entries may not be completely foreign but too often get stored away in a back compartment of the brain and are rarely-- if ever--withdrawn to be spoken or written. His clearly expressed goal is "that this book will activate the passive." and his collection of included words seems nearly perfect for that stated purpose. Few adults will be stumped when they encounter a word such "dogmatic," "churlish," "lascivious," "venerate," "rectitude," "gregarious," "cabal," "pastiche," `indigenous," "sacrosanct," "desultory", or "equivocal" (all selections incorporated in this volume), but not many of us employee these in our everyday conversations either. Have you ever heard of anyone attending a PTA meeting saying "I am off to the consortium" or during campaign season have you ever denounced "the chicanery of a candidate's commercials"? Most of these are merely dormant members of our vocabularies. Perusing the out-of the ordinary, but less than extraordinary words that compose the bulk of this work may elicit a few of them from the desuetude of the mind`s dormer. Those who seek the urbaneness of truly offbeat words will find occasional examples, but as the title intimates, that is not the thrust of this work. Still "deracinate," "ennui," "otiose," "sang-froid," "manqué," and "hegira" are among the features of this congeries that would send quite a few erudite folk to the nearest dictionary. Using them in conversation is guaranteed to leave the ruck bumfuzzled. Of these isolated abnormalities, hermaphrodite stands out as truly enigmatic. The only definition Schur provides is "a living organism with both male and female organs of sex." Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary expands the definition with "a person or thing in which two opposite qualities are combined' and "combining two opposite qualities." Both of these meanings seem likely to find more use than Schur's limited delineation which could only apply in very few instances beyond a description of Janet Reno. Oversights like this confirm that all vocabulary building sources (...) should be verified in a reputed dictionary before the words are summoned perfidiously.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for a Polymath¿s Prolix Persiflage
Review: In his introduction to this lexicon, Norman Schur discusses the difference between an active vocabulary and a passive one. Words designated as "active" are those used regularly while the passive entries may not be completely foreign but too often get stored away in a back compartment of the brain and are rarely-- if ever--withdrawn to be spoken or written. His clearly expressed goal is "that this book will activate the passive." and his collection of included words seems nearly perfect for that stated purpose. Few adults will be stumped when they encounter a word such "dogmatic," "churlish," "lascivious," "venerate," "rectitude," "gregarious," "cabal," "pastiche," 'indigenous," "sacrosanct," "desultory", or "equivocal" (all selections incorporated in this volume), but not many of us employee these in our everyday conversations either. Have you ever heard of anyone attending a PTA meeting saying "I am off to the consortium" or during campaign season have you ever denounced "the chicanery of a candidate's commercials"? Most of these are merely dormant members of our vocabularies. Perusing the out-of the ordinary, but less than extraordinary words that compose the bulk of this work may elicit a few of them from the desuetude of the mind's dormer. Those who seek the urbaneness of truly offbeat words will find occasional examples, but as the title intimates, that is not the thrust of this work. Still "deracinate," "ennui," "otiose," "sang-froid," "manqué," and "hegira" are among the features of this congeries that would send quite a few erudite folk to the nearest dictionary. Using them in conversation is guaranteed to leave the ruck bumfuzzled. Of these isolated abnormalities, hermaphrodite stands out as truly enigmatic. The only definition Schur provides is "a living organism with both male and female organs of sex." Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary expands the definition with "a person or thing in which two opposite qualities are combined' and "combining two opposite qualities." Both of these meanings seem likely to find more use than Schur's limited delineation which could only apply in very few instances beyond a description of Janet Reno. Oversights like this confirm that all vocabulary building sources (...) should be verified in a reputed dictionary before the words are summoned perfidiously.
Rating:
Summary: Even my 13 year old likes it!!!
Review: Interesting, and easy to read. Great bathroom book!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: Just like the cover says, "For anyone and everyone who has something the say!" Listed in alphabetical order, it's great to use as resource when reading a work of classical literature, writing a paper, or of course to enrich your vacab. From abashed(disconcerted) to zealot(fanatic), Schur provides definitions, synonms, roots, and plenty of examples so that even an obtuse(slow-witted, thick--headed) philistine(one who not only lacks culture and is smugly indifferent to it, but tends to attack it) can learn copious amounts of new words, establish a penchant for being articulate, and perhaps, if he's lucky, even acquire a prodigious amount of savoir-faire like moi.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: Just like the cover says, "For anyone and everyone who has something the say!" Listed in alphabetical order, it's great to use as resource when reading a work of classical literature, writing a paper, or of course to enrich your vacab. From abashed(disconcerted) to zealot(fanatic), Schur provides definitions, synonms, roots, and plenty of examples so that even an obtuse(slow-witted, thick--headed) philistine(one who not only lacks culture and is smugly indifferent to it, but tends to attack it) can learn copious amounts of new words, establish a penchant for being articulate, and perhaps, if he's lucky, even acquire a prodigious amount of savoir-faire like moi.
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