An Incomplete Education

I have found this book to be very readable and user-friendly. It is an excellent reference for anyone who is curious about many different topics. I used the original edition several years ago when I taught Humanities class in high school, and my students found it to be a valuable resource. I particularly like the way the book is organized in broad topics and then in alphabetical order within those topics. Another valuable resource along the same vein is A Dictionary of Cultural Literacy.

The thing I most remember from ALL my college courses is this book. AN INCOMPLETE EDUCATION is truly a wonderful supplement to any person's knowledge.This book is basically an intellectual history overview with a lot of helpful charts and guides. It's written in a very humorous tone, and it hits the humor target more often than not. If you feel that you lack knowledge, this is the book for you. It's not in depth, but it does tell you what you SHOULD know in all areas, including history, philosophy, music, art, and even film. My personal favorite features are the Latin abbreviations and the "Words you pronounce wrong but if you pronounced them right, you'd be considered a pretentious snob" feature. For a good time (and to increase your IQ), read this book. It's tongue-in-cheek, but it's a wealth of information.

The people here who gave this book a negative review clearly just didn't get it. This book is not intended as an education itself (hence the title), but as an introduction and overview that will hopefully send you off to learn more. But the best thing about this book is its wit. Saying that the authors should have dispensed with the comments and gotten down to information misses the whole point! I love this book, and recommend it to all my friends.

I'm buying this book to replace the 2 copies that were "borrowed" by "friends" who "forgot" to return them. I've learned my lesson -- I'm going to hide this copy. Simply put, I love this book. I don't understand the customer reviewers who didn't appreciate the fact that this isn't simply a dry compendium of facts. There are plenty of books out there (can you say encyclopedia?) that fit that bill. In fact, this book is specifically designed for people who don't like to read serious books full of dry information because, well, think about it; if you liked serious books full of dry information, you wouldn't be reading this book because you'd already know all the stuff that's in it. Does that make sense? No? O.K, try his: buy the book. You'll like it.