Rating: 
Summary: A superlative lexicon
Review: I was never a perspicacious cognoscenti of sonorous locutions, but with this lexicon, I've become quite magniloquent. Now, I look up words with great alacrity! Just as masticating sustenance is a quotidian routine, we should also edify ourselves to the argot of bombastic schmoes frequently.
Rating:
Summary: A superlative lexicon
Review: I was never a perspicacious cognoscenti of sonorous locutions, but with this lexicon, I've become quite magniloquent. Now, I look up words with great alacrity! Just as masticating sustenance is a quotidian routine, we should also edify ourselves to the argot of bombastic schmoes frequently.
Rating:
Summary: Aint it?
Review: If it ain't in the OED, it just ain't
Rating:
Summary: quite simply the best
Review: If you love language at all, ask your favorite relative to buyyou this as a present. I probably refer to it every day because it'sso darn interesting. It's not just definitions -- it's the history of every word in the English language from its first recorded use. This dictionary is indispensible if you are reading any older English authors (Chaucer, Milton, Shakespeare) because you don't have to guess -- you can see just what the word meant at that point in time. Half the time when you look up a word, you'll note that Shakespeare is the first recorded usage of the word. In case you weren't in awe of Shakespeare before, now you will be since many of our English usages are thanks to his skill. For the past few years I've kept this reference in my school office and almost everyday a student will come in to look up a word. Once you're done being in awe of this book, you'll probably want to read about how James Murray spent his whole life on the project. I don't mind the magnifier that comes with the dictionary, but if you're very nearsighted, you may want to opt for a multivolume edition. I enjoy the convenience of one volume, albeit somewhat large with microscopic print.
Rating: 
Summary: please refund my money
Review: Last September, I ordered the compact OED for my grad school kids for Christmas. The copy came with severe spine damage, which no one saw until opening on December 25. I cannot find where to exchange for a perfect, heritage gift. Amazon. com will not reply. Please send me a phone #. This is Amazon's fault and all I receive from Amazon is the news that I cannot return an order after 30 days or I can sell the purchase as a used book. Good grief--this a 300 dollar purchase. Please advise. Do I have to go so far as to contact Oxford Press? I have resolved never to order from Amazon again. And I am an academic who orders impulsively from Amazon. Will have to switch to Powells and should have just ordered on the academic discount from Oxford in the first place.Any thoughts, advice, Amazon phone numbers or commiseration will be well accepted. Thanks for reading and perhaps your help.
Rating:
Summary: The best
Review: Lots of great reviews here of content, which of course can't be surpassed. The caveats about the print size are useful as well -- it is small. And the thing is as big as a tank. All that said, the one volume edition has an important advantage, besides cost, over any other edition of the real thing (ie, non-abridged): it's one volume! When I look at this thing, which is often and for long periods of time (without any real bother because of print size), I don't really want to stay confined to one or a few volumes. I often find myself wanting to jump around a lot. For that purpose the 20 volume full-size version is far more unwieldy than this monster -- it's easier to deal with one big volume than 8 or 10 open books, which STILL won't contain something I want to look at, which means another trip to the bookshelf (not that it's so far away; it's just much less hassle to simply turn a bunch of pages). Except for the surgical strike use as a reference for a specific word, the electronic editions can't compare.
Rating:
Summary: Ambivalent feelings----
Review: My new compact OED is back in its box awaiting to be returned for credit. I've never experienced such mixed emotions over a book purchase before. However, I must concur with the other reviews that advise saving up for the 20-volume set instead (or just purchasing the 2-volume "Shorter Oxford Dictionary", if money or space is a problem). This compact micrographic edition is indeed a terrific buy for those with the eyes/patience for it and who merely want to occasionally look up an obscure word. However, the greatest enjoyment I derive from reference books is browsing through them. Thus, the compact OED is definitely _not_ a good browsing book. I began to develop a sick headache after only 15 minutes of perusal. By the way, I found that any one of my four large magnifying glasses worked better than the one supplied with the book-- but I still got eyestrain and a headache (In case you're wondering if I am vision-impaired::: I have excellent vision and do *not* normally utilize magnifying glasses for reading but only for certain hobbies requiring extreme scrutinizing of very minute detail, etc). As far as this edition is concerned, nine pages squeezed onto one page is less than a user-friendly format, to put it mildly. I have not personally seen the first version of the compact OED but its purportedly having just four pages reproduced onto one large page sounds like a vastly better design and a good compromise, even though it does require the two volumes. I feel that the publisher was quite foolish to alter the previous configuration to this one frustrating, eye-vexing volume. Well, we live and learn.
Rating: 
Summary: Lovely if a bit hard to read
Review: Of course it's a wonderful book. If you like dictionaries. Which I do. I mean, it is absolutely lovely to browse through, reading definitions of obscure words (swart, anyone?), and seeing them used in context in period quotes. But, as a previous reviewer said, it is a bit hard to read. Perfectly possible with the magnifying glass, but don't get it if your eyes are in bad shape. In other words, if you already use a magnifying glass to read, don't buy it; save up for the 20 vol set. But don't get me wrong: I am definately a happy owner.
Rating:
Summary: THE dictionary
Review: Once you've seen the OED, nothing else really looks like a dictionary. This is the authoritative source of information on words of the English language - their many meanings (look up "jack", for example), usages, histories, and origins, and more. It takes me a lot longer to use this than to use any other dictionary. No matter what I look up, I find lots of other interesting words or meanings on the way through. That's the fun of it, though: so many discoveries to make about even the words thought I knew. The compact edition is an incredible feat of printing. It really does contain everything in the 20-volume set, mini-printed with nine regular pages per compact page. The paper is tissue thin, so the book isn't a meter thick, but opaque and durable. The mini-printing can be a problem, though. Older eyes will not be able to read the text without a magnifier; one is provided, but isn't the easiest to use. The size and weight of the book could be a problem, too. If you want to display this, and you will, it might not be easy to find a big enough space for it. It's worth the trouble. This volume is the only practical way to have the OED at home (mansions not included). There is nothing like it - if I were allowed to own just one book, this would be it.
Rating: 
Summary: Middle aged eyes will struggle with this edition
Review: Other reviewers of this edition discussed the smallness of its print, but having read all the reviews I decided to order it anyway. Well, the content is superb. Definitions are astonishingly thorough, and the quotations add fabulous depth. The size of the dictionary itself, tho large, is manageable. But the font size is just too small, even with magnification, to read comfortably. In fact, I laughed when I saw it. Women - dive for your glasses!! Scrunch up your face!! Add bright light!! I'm returning this edition for the two volume instead.
|
