The Harper Dictionary of Modern Thought

The twentieth century wasn't monotonous as yuou know. The world of humankind experienced two disastrous wars and after them we have been experiencing continuously a lot of foolish things as you know. Why can't we stop them? This precious dictionary doesn't answer the question directly why we are so foolish, but it gives us clues to think about the question why we are so foolish still now in the 21th century.

I have many dictionaries on my shelves -- among them dictionaries of theology, philosophy, and sociology. I bought this dictionary at an airport, not really being sure how useful it would be. In fact it is a relatively new concept, having originated in the 1970s with Alan Bullock and Oliver Stallybrass. They felt that an ordinary dictionary contains "thousands of words familiar to us all", while an encyclopaedia contains (with regard to modern thought) "a vast amount of irrelevant material". They sensed the need for a dictionary of a new kind. This book contains nearly 4,000 entries, typically half a column's length, as well as copious cross-referencing, and mini-bibliographies on many subjects. It covers (inter alia) the fields of anthropology, sociology, economics, philosophy, history, politics, physics, and biology. The entries are well written, and by and large would seem to distil the essential meaning and significance of every term. It is also written "in language as simple as can be used without over-simplification or distortion". In short, if anything has been a major topic of conversation during the past generation, it is likely to be found in this dictionary. I myself have been engaged in postgraduate studies, and have found it to be remarkably comprehensive and dependable, as well as giving me many useful leads in contemporary debate. No one could expect such a book to hold everything -- yet the amount of information that it does hold is surprising. It is not just a faddish idea. It has become one of my most valuable reference tools.

This is a very good dictionary which takes a very wide range of concepts from all fields of human endeavor and provides short and most often clear and good definitions.On one page I see definitions for ' democratic centralism' 'demography' ' demonstration'(logical) demythologize , dendrochronology, denotation density. There are also on the page names of individuals who are identified and related to the articles on concepts. On this page for instance Charles Demuth(British painter 1935) is referred to the entry on PRECISIONISM. This is a very useful intellectual tool.

The editors have put together a book of broad scope and readability that succeeds on many levels. As a dictionary it is a valuable reference work to discover what a concept means in a well summarised form. It is also a great check on your current interpretation of a concept to see if it is compatible with the interpretation of the editors, and is also a great 'dipping' book, for as you flip through the pages you will come to a concept or thought that will be new to you, or could use some revision. It is once more great for finding inter-related topics or further fields of research from a main idea.