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Product Description
Product Description
Oxford Dictionary of Quotations by Subject is a collection of over 7,000 quotations arranged thematically for easy look-up. Covering nearly 600 subjects, this book features a wealth of topics relevant to modern society, from Beauty, Baseball, and Belief to Patriotism, The Past, and Power. Themes new to this edition include Babies, Birthdays, Nine-Eleven, Retirement, Thanks, and Toasts. Quotations have been taken from a vast range of people around the world from ancient times to the present day, including philosophers, journalists, saints, comedians, poets, monarchs, singers, politicans, scientists, writers, journalists, actors, and sportsmen. Brief author descriptions are given with every quotation, and an index makes it easy to search by author. New to this edition are an increased number of contemporary and motivational quotations to inspire all readers and an improved layout to make reading, browsing, and searching this delightful book easier and more pleasurable than ever. 'I like my body better since I became a mother. I feel sexier as a result.' Halle Berry 'I just blew my mind. And I blew the world's mind.' Usain Bolt 'Making money from money should be replaced with making money from making.' James Dyson 'Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticism.' George Eliot 'Design is not for philosophy - it's for life.' Issey Miyake
About the Author
Susan Ratcliffe is an Associate Editor for Oxford Quotations Dictionaries, and has previously edited the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and Love Quotations.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a satisfyingly chunky, shiny paperback in which plenty of quotations are given, divided into sections according to topics/themes. These range from Ability to Youth (no zoos?) via Dreams, Jazz and Poverty. There is a list of subjects at the front and an author index at the back so that, if you are absolutely sure of the main idea of the quotation and/or its originator, you can find it easily. Each saying is attributed in detail and, if it is about a person, that person is named. My reservation is that there is no key-word index and some quotations have more than one topic. This means that you could look up the wrong topic for a quotation you vaguely remember and miss it. I think it is more a book to read than a reference tool, though it would be handy for a public speaker or writer who knows what he/she wants to say and needs a useful aphorism.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Skillful Editing Makes All the Difference
21 July 2010
Format:Paperback
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations by Subject (Oxford Paperback Reference) is a handy, compact resource to have around. I think it is far superior to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Quotations, which I have been using up until this point.
CONTENT
------------
The entries are arranged alphabetically by subject. Whenever possible, the name of the author, their dates, their significance, the title of the source, and the date of the quotation are given. For example, the fourth quotation under "education" is "Go to the pine if you want to learn about the pine" Matsuo Basho 1644-94 Japanese poet: Nobuyuki Yuasa (ed.) Basho. The Narrow Road to the Deep North (1966) Introduction.
WHY DO I PREFER IT OVER MERRIAM-WEBSTER?
---------------------
It draws on sources from several traditions (not enough for my taste, but better than most). I think this was a very good choice for an audience that is becoming increasingly familiar with various cultures. In contrast, the content of the Merriam-Webster dictionary is taken almost entirely from the Western one.
It not only gives you the author's name, but enough information to understand roughly when the entry was written, and even the source, so you can actually track down the quotation yourself. Finally, an editor of a general work did not dumb it down and carefully recorded the sources to empower us. Merriam-Webster's only tells you the author and source. If you do not recognize the name, you have no idea when it was written, where, and what the author's significance is.
The content is up to date. Entries in other dictionaries tend to all have come from before I was born. I have found some quotations from as recently as two years ago in this book. Of course, there is nothing at all wrong with old, but I think it is better to have a good mix. Merriam-Webster's dictionary was published nearly two decades ago, and because the editors focused on dead white men, it isn't even useful for quotations from the 80s and 90s.
It is inexpensive (paperback). Although Merriam-Webster's costs even less, I think you get more for your money with this one.
DRAWBACKS
---------------------
It is somewhat larger than Merriam-Webster's. There is a lot of dead space in the book, and they could have easily printed it smaller if they had wanted to.
The Bible quotations are strangely lacking information. Why only put "Bible: St. Matthew"? Personally, I'd like to know exactly where to find it. Merriam-Webster's provides this.
SUMMARY
---------------------
This is a very well-edited volume that far exceeded my expectations for a general dictionary of quotations. I highly recommend it.
CONTENT
------------
The entries are arranged alphabetically by subject. Whenever possible, the name of the author, their dates, their significance, the title of the source, and the date of the quotation are given. For example, the fourth quotation under "education" is "Go to the pine if you want to learn about the pine" Matsuo Basho 1644-94 Japanese poet: Nobuyuki Yuasa (ed.) Basho. The Narrow Road to the Deep North (1966) Introduction.
WHY DO I PREFER IT OVER MERRIAM-WEBSTER?
---------------------
It draws on sources from several traditions (not enough for my taste, but better than most). I think this was a very good choice for an audience that is becoming increasingly familiar with various cultures. In contrast, the content of the Merriam-Webster dictionary is taken almost entirely from the Western one.
It not only gives you the author's name, but enough information to understand roughly when the entry was written, and even the source, so you can actually track down the quotation yourself. Finally, an editor of a general work did not dumb it down and carefully recorded the sources to empower us. Merriam-Webster's only tells you the author and source. If you do not recognize the name, you have no idea when it was written, where, and what the author's significance is.
The content is up to date. Entries in other dictionaries tend to all have come from before I was born. I have found some quotations from as recently as two years ago in this book. Of course, there is nothing at all wrong with old, but I think it is better to have a good mix. Merriam-Webster's dictionary was published nearly two decades ago, and because the editors focused on dead white men, it isn't even useful for quotations from the 80s and 90s.
It is inexpensive (paperback). Although Merriam-Webster's costs even less, I think you get more for your money with this one.
DRAWBACKS
---------------------
It is somewhat larger than Merriam-Webster's. There is a lot of dead space in the book, and they could have easily printed it smaller if they had wanted to.
The Bible quotations are strangely lacking information. Why only put "Bible: St. Matthew"? Personally, I'd like to know exactly where to find it. Merriam-Webster's provides this.
SUMMARY
---------------------
This is a very well-edited volume that far exceeded my expectations for a general dictionary of quotations. I highly recommend it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
I WOULD HAVE GIVEN THIS KINDLE BOOK 5 STARTS BUT...
9 Nov 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
...it isn't very easy to navigate through...at least, I couldn't figure out a way to do so! (If I'm missing something, here, I hope somebody will reply to this review and set me straight.)
The book, itself, is an INCREDIBLE collection of quotes and far surpasses the classic "Bartlett's" and has the potential to be a very useful tool or even just a fun read in itself.
The "bad" part is that I wish there were links in the index to the various topics covered. Unfortunately, if you type in a search word..."beer", for instance...you get back every quote where the word "beer" appears. For instance "He was drinking a cold beer".
I would respectfully suggest that when the next edition is published for Kindle, it includes links from the alphabetical index to each subject listed rather than having the reader have to type in a search word and wade through a lot of non sequiturs to find an actual quote...which is EXTREMELY tedious!
Otherwise, this is a fine book.
The book, itself, is an INCREDIBLE collection of quotes and far surpasses the classic "Bartlett's" and has the potential to be a very useful tool or even just a fun read in itself.
The "bad" part is that I wish there were links in the index to the various topics covered. Unfortunately, if you type in a search word..."beer", for instance...you get back every quote where the word "beer" appears. For instance "He was drinking a cold beer".
I would respectfully suggest that when the next edition is published for Kindle, it includes links from the alphabetical index to each subject listed rather than having the reader have to type in a search word and wade through a lot of non sequiturs to find an actual quote...which is EXTREMELY tedious!
Otherwise, this is a fine book.
Great quotes, if you find them on Kindle version
27 May 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This excellent collection of quotations illustrates the need for much better Kindle and ebook searches. I found it difficult to find specific subject quotes and impossible to go to specific subject headings in the Kindle version. The material is not worth much, if one must struggle to access it.
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