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Summary: Just Like the Title Says: Best Book for Finding Synonyms.
Review: "The Synonym Finder" is a thesaurus in dictionary form. There are no word definitions or pronunciation guides. Words are listed alphabetically, as they would be in a dictionary, and an exhaustive list of synonyms is given for each definition of every word. Clarifications such as "informal", "slang", "archaic", etc. are provided where appropriate. There are 1.5 million words in "The Synonym Finder", including variations on the same root word. That's more than 4 times the number of words in "Roget's International Thesaurus". If you simply want to find synonyms, this is the book for you. It isn't as versatile as a thesaurus that is organized by subject, but it's more to the point and easier to use if you are simply looking for word alternatives. Roget's is a better research tool, but this is a better and far more efficient synonym finder, and I think that students will prefer it to Roget's. My one pet peeve about the book is that the hardback edition doesn't have a dust jacket. The publisher may have thought a dust jacket would just be a nuisance on a reference book, but I would have preferred one for protection. I only wish "The Synonym Finder" were also available as software, as I have limited space for books within arm's reach of my computer. I use "The Synonym Finder" more frequently than my dictionary, Roget's Thesaurus, and Random House Word Menu combined. I think any writer will find it indispensable, and it would make great gift for middle school, high school, and college students.
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Summary: Just Like the Title Says: Best Book for Finding Synonyms.
Review: "The Synonym Finder" is a thesaurus in dictionary form. There are no word definitions or pronunciation guides. Words are listed alphabetically, as they would be in a dictionary, and an exhaustive list of synonyms is given for each definition of every word. Clarifications such as "informal", "slang", "archaic", etc. are provided where appropriate. There are 1.5 million words in "The Synonym Finder", including variations on the same root word. That's more than 4 times the number of words in "Roget's International Thesaurus". If you simply want to find synonyms, this is the book for you. It isn't as versatile as a thesaurus that is organized by subject, but it's more to the point and easier to use if you are simply looking for word alternatives. Roget's is a better research tool, but this is a better and far more efficient synonym finder, and I think that students will prefer it to Roget's. My one pet peeve about the book is that the hardback edition doesn't have a dust jacket. The publisher may have thought a dust jacket would just be a nuisance on a reference book, but I would have preferred one for protection. I only wish "The Synonym Finder" were also available as software, as I have limited space for books within arm's reach of my computer. I use "The Synonym Finder" more frequently than my dictionary, Roget's Thesaurus, and Random House Word Menu combined. I think any writer will find it indispensable, and it would make great gift for middle school, high school, and college students.
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Summary: adj. 1. excellent, unexcelled, unsurpassed ...
Review: ... these are the first three entries for "best" in J. I. Rodale's The Synonym Finder.
It is simply the "best."
Forget Roget...this is the MUST have book for writers, linguists, researchers or crossword enthusiasts! My dad bought my first for me in the late 80's and not a week goes by, at work or at home, that I don't open it.
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Summary: You need no other thesaurus!
Review: Best thesaurus ever. Every time I use it, this reference work seems to offer a dozen excellent, out-of-the way and stimulating choices that other thesauri just don't come close. It's as if an intellect on the level of Borges or Joyce had helped edit it. The book never lets me down when I'm writing. A must for any writer.
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Summary: An awesome vocabulary resource / reference book
Review: I love this book. Get the hardcover edition if you can find it, because as a previous reviewer mentioned it is likely to get a lot of use. Even if you don't need it as a writing or research tool you may find yourself poring over the thousands of synonyms out of sheer curiosity. It's rather amazing that it hasn't undergone any revision for awhile, all the more a testament to its usefulness.
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Summary: The Best
Review: I've had Rodale's Synonym Finder in my reference library for over ten years, and find that I use it at least ten times a month. There is simply no other book in the English language that is more comprehensive (the number of pages is an obvious give away) nor more helpful. As a lover of language, I frequently examine other such books, and always find that they come up short against this exhaustive resource. What makes this particular reference so valuable is that it recognizes each word usually has more than one meaning, and when it gives a synonym, it is by meaning, not simply by word. Moreover, the reference gives various examples when a word is used as an adjective or adverb, and either as a noun or a verb. It's this breadth and depth that makes this particular synonym finder so extraordinarily superior to the competition. My only lament is that it doesn't include antonymns, but then the book would probably be too large and too cumbersome. As it stands now, the words are clearly displayed, and the synonyms - in all their variety - are abundant.
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Summary: The Synonym Finder
Review: If you are a heavy writer--buy the hardcover version. The paperback will soon be destroyed through constant use. The best thesaurus ever!
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Summary: 40th consecutive 5 star review - quit futzing and buy it!
Review: It's not expensive and it's easy to replace, but still, it's on the short list of things I would think of grabbing if this building were on fire.Without this book at my side these last 15 years, I may not have been able to articulate my way into a good school, a rewarding career, or - dare I say - a wonderful marriage.
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Summary: THE BEST, THE ONLY - no brag, just fact. Owned since 1986!
Review: The fifth ace for your junior high/high school/college/ student - will help them write better papers faster as they get smarter - because vocabulary is the develop-able skill that elevates the GREAT STUDENTS from the Near Great. And you can't buy IQ or creativity in a book. You learn a lot just browsing it - it's fun to look up the words in a pre-1961 dictionary (when they started dumbing down) - what IS the difference betweeh true/real/honest/factual... or smart/brilliant/intelligent... or funny/witty/comical/jocular/hilarious... you won't need anything else except a pre-1961 dictionary to go along with this on your reference shelf! I find the paperback pages heftier and sturdier than the hardcover and more able to withstand the frequent use this will get. That's my only criticism - I wish Rodale would make a sturdier hardcover, never mind the bulk or cost - I'd pay a pretty penny for a sturdy hardcover, even leatherbound collectible.
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Summary: All other thesauri are pretenders to this book's throne
Review: Until coming across this book, I found thesauri to be more frustrating than trying to chew Captain Crunch cereal without any teeth. Not that I know what that's like, but it's easy enough to imagine.
Then I saw this. And found that all of the thesauri collected in my library had become worthless. This is the OED of thesauri, indispensable and perfect beyond comprehension. You will want to order this in hardcover, for you will find yourself using it again, and again, and again, and again.
When I bought this book I actually did comparisons between the synonyms in this book and others, and was astounded. I don't remember the word offhand, but this book had over twenty synonyms, while Roget's had seven. An Oxford thesaurus had eleven, but that was as good as it got.
The most important thing about this book is that the synonyms are relevant. The author hasn't just packed a bunch of words together here to make it look good.
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