Partly to keep up with the vocabulary explosion that has occurred since Asimov's Words of Science (1959), a sequel with the same alphabetical arrangement and rather discursive style, with no more reference or basic educational value than its predecessor but the same irresistible browsability. The new words range from the obvious astronaut and laser to chillers like clone and the disreputable polywater. There are old words newly come to household status (ecology, eutrophication, greenhouse effect), a few pushovers to boost your confidence (photosynthesis, robot, jet plane), some you've heard and really should know (black hole, red shift, holography) — and if you've kept up so far how about bremsstrahlung, carbonaceous chondrites, scotophobin, vasopressin? The mix makes no sense at all but you'll upset your circadian rhythm and cut into your rem sleep turning just one more page and then another to the final zinjanthropus and zpg.
Pub Date: April 26, 1972
ISBN: 0395137225
Page Count: -
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1972
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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