The Thinker's Thesaurus: Sophisticated Synonyms for Basic Words, by Peter Meltzer, goes beyond the realm of what we think a "thesaurus" should be by providing us with a level of useful words that exceeds what we've become used to in a normal thesaurus. The thesaurus that most of us are accustomed to suggests words that can be boring and repetitive. Meltzer gives us words contained in recent media, books and hundreds of newspapers and magazines to whet our appetite for more useful and dynamic words.

This unique thesaurus is not only informative, but entertaining - especially to those of us who are died in the wool "word addicts" and love to look up words for the simple enjoyment of it. If you're a writer, you'll use The Thinker's Thesaurus to move to a new, higher level of writing by using these incredible words in your poetry or prose.

The Thinker's Thesaurus takes us into modern times - far from the day of Peter Mark Roget in 1852. Roget decided to write a thesaurus himself, since he couldn't find one already published. Roget grouped words by related ideas and as a result earned a place in history as a lexicographical expert.

Others have written their own versions of a thesaurus, but most of the words in them are as common and dated as the original words and so, when writers are stuck and needing help with that one word to complete a thought or sentence, they were out of luck. Now, with Meltzer's "thinker's thesaurus," writers or word addicts can find sparkling words that can make the others almost obsolete.

Peter Meltzer's book, The Thinker's Thesaurus, is unique in three interesting ways:

1. This thesaurus provides sophisticated synonyms for the sophisticated writer, word addict, or those who simply want to sprinkle some glitter into their writing.

2. The Thinker's Thesaurus contains examples (not made up, but actually part of current writing) of almost all of the synonyms presented in the book.

3. You'll find words that you're probably unfamiliar with, but that will intrigue you in an entertaining way. Meltzer thought to insert a "clarifier" feature into the words' explanations so that you'll also have the benefit of choosing the most "target-centered" word rather than using a word that's merely near what you want.

If you're a little skeptical that words can be sophisticated and entertaining, have a look at Peter Meltzer's new book, The Thinker's Thesaurus: Sophisticated Synonyms for Basic Words. Meltzer's thesaurus was the Book Sense Pick of the Month of the American Booksellers Association and earned the award tenfold.

Review by Lauren Smith

This book review covers The Thinker's Thesaurus by Peter E. Meltzer.

Article Source: The Thinker's Thesaurus - Indeed! ( )