Copyright

E. Encyclopedias

A standard encyclopedia has alphabetically listed entries. A general encyclopedia tries to list all knowledge.

An ancient Greek Philosopher named Aristotle (384-322 BC) also compiled an encyclopedia in his day. You may have heard this name. He called his work The Physics, meaning all about the physical world. The story is that, after he completed this book about everything, he realized it was incomplete! He wrote another book about all the things he left out and placed it on the shelf next to his book, The Physics. He called the new book The Metaphysics (in Greek, the word meta means next to). That is the derivation of the word metaphysics, which refers to all things not of the physical world, that is, of the human mind. For more on Aristotle and the Ancient Greeks, click on the link Ancient Greeks

One of the first modern encyclopedias, the Encyclopedie was compiled by Denis Diderot (1713-1784) a French philosophe (or philosopher).

In addition to general encyclopedias, such as the Britannica, there are special encyclopedias (sometimes called dictionaries) such as The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The Encyclopedia of Medicine, The Dictionary of the History of Ideas, to name just a few. These books and other reference books will be useful to you later on in your college career. You can find them at your school or local library (or on-line). Access is free.

Or click here for an on-line encyclopedia. You will go first to the article on Encyclopedias and then you can search for any reference.

One book that you should definitely consult is The new Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. The sub-title of this book is What every American should know. The publisher is Houghton Mifflin Co. and the main editor is E. D. Hirsch. Although much of the premise or thesis (the main idea) of this book is controversial, the content of the book represents an invaluable resource to anyone who is interested in understanding American language and culture.

WE ALL MUST LEARN WORDS

Here's a story about a famous American author, Jack London. When he first began writing short stories, he set himself the task of learning a certain number of new words each day. To accomplish this, he would write down the words and their meaning on small scraps of paper and hang them up around his apartment in convenient places (such as over the sink where he would shave or by his desk where he would work). He would see these words and definitions all day. The next day he would take those words down and hang up new ones. In this way, he successfully learned many new words.

For yourself, you need to devise (create) a way (method) to learn new words. Jack London's idea was to have a daily goal of a certain number of words. Setting a goal for yourself is a good idea as well. Your goal might be to learn 5 words a week. To learn these words, be sure to write them down with their definitions. Some people do this on an index card (3 inches by 5 inches). On one side is the word and definition, and on the other side is a sentence that helps you to remember the meaning and usage of the word. Many students have found it useful to carry the cards around with them and study them whenever they have a chance: at work at lunchtime, traveling on the train or bus, waiting in line, and so on. Whatever method you devise, stick to it! Keep learning new words!

Do not continue reading this book until you have a dictionary by your side!

A thesaurus would be useful, as well.

For more on Jack London click here: Jack London

Here's a rule for you to follow, and one that I enforce in my classroom:

Anytime you do not understand a word, Look it up!