30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: Ahh...the pleasure of words, how could a man deny himself this Empyrean delight! Asceticism, at least in the realm of vocabulary, is a mortal sin that a true logophile should not hesitate to denounce.

The organization of the book is worth heaping praises upon. Chapters, each of which should be finished in a day, are ordered thematically (eg Power Verbs and Foreign Words), that I personally found myself actually reading the book at whichever interesting chapter depending upon my particular inclination for that day. However, my advice should be taken with caution as the authors seemingly intended the book to be read in a particular order of progress. Well, tastes and aptitude may vary.

The book begins with an initial assessment of vocabulary and general language skills already possessed. Subsequent chapters are also supplemented with exercises (which are accompanied by helpful hints themselves), and the book ends with a final assessment of success.

At times the authors seem to be sermonizing on the values of the "American" language (as the authors call it), at times to be touting the importance of national linguistic pride, at times busily engaged in an exercise in Oprahesque you-can-do-it ad nauseam. As some reviewer(s) noted, the book has not been expurgated of the prejudices particularly prevalent at the time it was first written.

Despite the flaws which all books are guilty of in some degree or another, Dr Wilfred Funk and Norman Lewis have shown the path towards a greater experience of this esoteric enteprise. A path that is delightfully fun, rewarding and entertaining; it is definitely worth every penny!

Rating:
Summary: How To Double Your Vocabulary, but not in 30 Days
Review: Despite advertising hype - 30 Days To -, no ONE book will double your vocabulary, but reading several vocabulary-building books can double your vocabulary. Different vocabulary-building books have different words and different explanations. If you don't learn a word from one book, you can learn it from another book.

Any vocabulary-building book will have many words, a fourth to half the book, that you already understand. You can always skip or skim the easy-to-you words.

Varied, incomplete word selection is another reason for using several books. Some books just take words used on past-standardized tests, neglecting other words. Other books, limit their words to words based on word roots, neglecting others. Often authors have thrown in personal favorite words, even if others rarely use the words. If you see a word in two or three books, it's generally a need-to-know word.

The main weakness of 30 Days To A More Powerful Vocabulary, and no book is perfect, is the word selection. As one other reviwer noted: some of the definitions are dated. But the price is right and if you read several vocabulary-building books, you will not have a problem identifying the few dated words.

Other Books: Cartoon/Mnemonic vocabulary books have their fans who like the mnemonic memory aids, which are useful before tests. But with only one word and one cartoon per page, these books may only have a few hundred words and are expensive on a per word learned basis. Audio vocabulary books such as Elite Word Power, let you hearing each word pronounced correctly, helpful for improving speaking vocabulary.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent aid to a more powerful vocabulary
Review: On the back cover there is the promise that the book will "make words your slaves". Well, not quite but with perseverance, you are destined to achieve at least 50% of the intended result. You need 30 days of persistent study and more days for reinforcement. A bonus is that by the end of the book you would probably be inspired to acquire a lifetime habit of increasing your vocabulary.

Those who find this book useful should also consider the brilliant "Word Power Made Easy" by Norman Lewis, one of the co-authors of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent aid to a more powerful vocabulary
Review: On the back cover there is the promise that the book will "make words your slaves". Well, not quite but with perseverance, you are destined to achieve at least 50% of the intended result. You need 30 days of persistent study and more days for reinforcement. A bonus is that by the end of the book you would probably be inspired to acquire a lifetime habit of increasing your vocabulary.

Those who find this book useful should also consider the brilliant "Word Power Made Easy" by Norman Lewis, one of the co-authors of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource!
Review: This book is an excellent resource for anyone hoping to expand his or her vocabulary. I suppose, as the others below me have said, that the title of this classic book is a bit misleading. Yes, it's true-- you can't learn over two hundred words in "30 days." But whether you can or not does not diminish the fact that this book really does succeed in its aims, and that is to help expand your knowledge and use of words. This book helped fill in the gaps in my own vocabulary, and for that I will be forever grateful to it. I can't recommend it enough.

Rating:
Summary: It will take you more than 30 days to build a big vocabulary
Review: While this book is very helpful in building a more powerful vocabulary, a more appropriate title would be "45 days to a more powerful vocabulary in just 60 minutes a day!" Some lessons must be repeated if you want to really know some of the words. There are no really ground breaking vocabulary memorization techniques in this book either. However, it does a great job of organizing certain vocabulary terms. If you can spare an hour a day for 45 days, this books can be a great help!

Rating:
Summary: Misleading title
Review: While you can certainly finish the book in 30 days, you'll most likely forget the vocabularies in at least half of the chapters by the time you are done. The quiz in each chapter is useful. The diagnostic test at the beginning of the book can crush your self-esteem - which is to be redeemed after reading the book. "30 days" in the title is misleading, because readers probably need to go through the chapters again and again to make sure they truly remember the words. So make it "45-50 days to a more powerful vocabulary"!

Furthermore, believe it or not: it is not a bad cram book if you have less than 3 months to study for SAT or GRE! I find vocabulary builders (such as this title) much better study tools for SAT or GRE than conventional exam preparation guides like Princeton Review or Barron's - at least for the verbal section.