Word by Word: The Secret Life of
Dictionaries - Kory Stamper
I spent a lot of time writing and
editing a review for Word by Word because I wanted to be eloquent in
my expression of admiration for both the book and its author. Before
posting it, though, I looked at other reviews of the book and
immediately found many of my words and phrases in them, so I decided
against posting mine. I had nothing new to offer in terms of praise
for this book that I'd so enjoyed reading. If you read all the raving
reviews posted online, you'll know what I mean.
All I will say is this book resonated
with the nerdy word-loving grammarian that I am. I recommend it to
all my fellow writers and word lovers. I took my time reading the
book, savoring every word, enjoying every chapter, and delighting in
the author's sense of humor. Some passages and footnotes made me
laugh out loud.
Reading Word by Word also brought back
many memories of my childhood and adolescence. As the daughter of an
etymologist and lexicographer, I spent fifteen years of my life in
the middle of stacks of books and piles of paper and boxes filled
with index cards. From that period of my life, most memories I have of my father involve him sitting at his desk, a red pencil in his hand, either
underlining words in books or reviewing semantic variations of words
based on evidence.
I'm glad Kory Stamper “authored”
this book (see the footnote on p.187 of the book), and I hope you will enjoy it as much
as I did.
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