Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely – Book Review

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Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely: 3500 Most Beautiful English Vocabulary Words

by Robin Devoe

I've been trying to supercharge my vocabulary by consuming books on this subject. The year 2024 concluded with me finishing up Big & Fancy Words That Might Make You Smarter...er by Albert B. Squid, which presents one big and fancy word (as the title says) for every day of the year. In the middle of this year, I wrapped up my reading of the lexically luminiferous resource The Lexicologist's Handbook by Dane Cobain. Now here I am reviewing Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely by Robin Devoe, which, in a sense, is the ne plus ultra of all such I've read to date.

Why so? Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely by Robin Devoe lists English words that you would most likely not encounter in everyday life. Here is a selection of random expressions from the book: amaranthine, limerence, oneiric, catachthonian, mansuetude, quiddity, gourmandism, esprit d'escalier, plumigerous, hesternal, zeitgeist, redivivus, encincture, devenustate, and spizzerinctum. On the whole, the definitions are easy to understand, and I like the fact that the author also provides information about etymology, parts of speech, synonyms & antonyms, rarity, obsoleteness, etc., although this doesn't apply to every entry. A tiny number of entries show how to pronounce the words – I kind of wish each and every one had such information; natheless, I realize that it would probably be too massive an undertaking. Hence, I had to use other resources, such as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), to grok this aspect of the vocabulary.

All of these notwithstanding, I have encountered a number of inaccuracies, without which the dictionary would be more outstanding. Here are several examples:

• In the entry for "nanization", "bonzai" should be "bonsai" – a mistake probably caused by the similarity between "bonsai" and "banzai" (another word of Japanese origin). (p. 86)
• As the definition is that of a verb, the word "scintillant" (adjective) should be "scintillate". (p. 118)
• In the entry for "spiracle", "anthropods" should be "arthropods". (p. 125)

All in all, Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely by Robin Devoe is an absolutely frabjous English resource! I am sempiternally grateful for its existence and wholeheartedly recommend this dictionary to any logophile, poet, or one who wants to delve deep into the English lexicon.

Have you read Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely? What would you say about this book? Share your opinion in the comment section below!

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Me: Then and Now

Perhaps to most people the phrase "time flies" feels more and more true with age. Here I am in 2025, a quarter of the 21st century having flown by unthinkably powerful AI tools such as ChatGPT being household names all across the world such that "digital gods" might be an apt name for them. I was born on the pale blue dot in 1990, which means 35 years has passed since my accouchement and I have, more or less, another 35 years of having the privilege of residing on this Brobdingnagian life-supporting rock. (Or is it? We'll see.) Everything evolves, and so do I. Looking back to my much younger self, I can see quite a significant difference between him and my present self.

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The most striking change I have experienced has to do with my holistic view on life. I grew up becoming a religious bigot who harbored bitter hatred for those not adhering to my deeply held belief. That period of my life was indeed grueling years, filled with continual unsatisfaction and intense stress which rendered me alamort. I could not become my real self and had to suppress the naturality inside me, which would otherwise have entered its anthesis in that timeframe. As odious as this psychological and behavioral phenomenon may seem, I am confident that I have figured out how it managed to grip my being, and others' for that matter, so firmly. The infectious ideological bigotry in human mind could be easily explained by our desire to extinguish fear in the simplest way possible. The problem is what is simple is not necessarily good, and what is simplest is not necessarily best. Science has enabled me to unmask this false thinking. It goes without saying that, as a dinosaur maniac, paleontology is the science that has played a vital role in decimating the pernicious mental illness.

I could almost laugh when thinking about the naivety exhibited by my past self. In my mind, life was destined to be a bed of roses. Justice would eventually prevail, everyone would inevitably reach happiness if they really wanted to, and so on and so forth. As dreamy as this thinking may appear, so far as I can tell, it is not in line with reality. If you are born in a war-torn country, the odds are your well-being will not be as good as those who aren't. Where your parturition takes place is aleatory – it is not something you can choose. You could win the lottery today and go into a coma the next day because some inebriated guy's car ploughs into your unfortunate body. There is just an unending list of things that are outside our control. This is where Stoicism comes into play. This ancient school of philosophy seems to have been gaining traction in recent years, and its popularity is a testament to its efficacy and practicality. While terrible things do happen, we can still (and have to) make the most of it. Focusing only on things within your control and loving the fate handed to you (amor fati) are two examples of Stoic practices and I find them incredibly potent and fulfilling.

"Purpose inherently exists in every human being." This is another thing in my mindset that has become obsolete. From a cosmic point of view, we have no purpose in this world. This may sound overly depressing and can leave us disoriented, but it can be liberating and uplifting instead. Although the universe did not impart purpose to us, we can create our own. Meaning is something that we ourselves determine and not something automatically dealt to us. Here is a profound quote from the extraordinary thinker Osho Rajneesh:

"People wonder why there seems to be no meaning in life. Meaning does not exist a priori. There is no meaning existing in life; one has to create it. Only if you create it will you discover it. It has to be invented first. It is not lying there like a rock, it has to be created like a song. It is not a thing, it is a significance that you bring through your consciousness." - The Book of Understanding: Creating Your Own Path to Freedom

Related to this is my realization of the vague distinction between good and bad. Dwelling in absolutism will not bear real fruit and only result in desperation. Which is better, being an employee or an entrepreneur? Is working as a doctor better than as an accountant? Should you get married or stay single? No one can say that one is absolutely good and the other is absolutely bad. I completely agree with Osho on this matter and I'd like to end this article with another eye-opening quote from the Indian guru:

"People have remained concerned about their acts: Which act is right and which act is wrong? What is good and what is evil? My own understanding is that it is not a question of any particular act. The question is about your psychology.

"When you are total, it is good; and when you are divided, it is evil. Divided you suffer; united, you dance, you sing, you celebrate." - The Book of Understanding: Creating Your Own Path to Freedom

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The Lexicologist's Handbook – Book Review

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The Lexicologist's Handbook: A Dictionary of Unusual Words

by Dane Cobain

I have been fascinated by English for eons. The joy of learning and exploring this language is immense, so much so that I ended up becoming an EFL teacher in my country, Indonesia. Although grammar is the aspect that got me hooked in the first place and played a primary role in setting my life trajectory, the beauty and richness of the English vocabulary is unlimited food for my insatiable linguistic appetite. The Lexicologist's Handbook by Dane Cobain is such a terrific resource for this never-ending adventure.

This book is basically a dictionary – but not a usual one. It is jam-packed with unusual, rare, fancy, or otherwise cool English words that will imbue readers with lexical superpower. In each entry, there is information on the word's pronunciation, type(s), definition(s), and example sentence(s), which enables you to understand the word thoroughly and primes you to use it in real-life situations, impressing your fellow humans linguistically.

Howbeit, considering The Lexicologist's Handbook is aimed at learners of English and educational in nature, I wish the accuracy of the content were higher. I have encountered a number of mistakes, one of which is "Amphitheatre" being misspelled as "Ampitheatre". On top of that, the pronunciation feature could be enhanced by adding information on stress position.

On the whole, The Lexicologist's Handbook by Dane Cobain is a spectacular addition to English literature. If you are bored of using ordinary expressions or looking to diversify your vocabulary, I highly recommend reading this tremendous lexical booster!

Have you read The Lexicologist's Handbook? Do you agree with my opinion? Share what you think in the comment section below!

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Big & Fancy Words That Might Make You Smarter...er – Book Review

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Big & Fancy Words That Might Make You Smarter...er: A Vocabulary Builder For The Lexical Deficient Interlocutor Albeit Soon-To-Be Supercilious Smarty Pants Confabulator

by Albert B. Squid

Happy New Year, everybody! 🥳🎊🎉 The year 2024 ended with two great things: the presence of my sixth monster in Monster Rancher 2 DX, Wackosaurus; and the completion of my perusal of this vocabulary builder. 🥰

Big & Fancy Words That Might Make You Smarter...er by Albert B. Squid is an English-learning book with a difference. This vocabulary builder showcases "big & fancy words" (as the title says) presented in calendrically sequent order – you will learn one unusual but cool word for each day of the year, from January 1 to December 31. Apart from easy-to-digest definition(s), each word is accompanied with information on its part of speech (whether it is a noun, verb, etc.), an example sentence (which is often, if not always, funny or even hilarious!), and synonym(s) and antonym(s). Among the book's lexical selection are "opprobrious", "turpitude", "anathema", "peripatetic", and "crepuscular". It is not every day that we hear this sort of expression, is it? I guarantee that you will learn a plenitude of vocabulary in a fun way from this unique book!

Despite the positive things I have mentioned, there are some changes that I wish could be made to this vocab booster. First of all, as this book is intended to educate its readers on English language, the lack of linguistic accuracy is something to be dealt with. There are a number of mistakes, without which this book would be far more valuable. Here are several examples:

• A synonym for "antediluvian" should be "old-fashioned", not "old-fashion". (p. 43)
• The correct spelling for "consistant" is "consistent". (p. 72)
• The word "vengence" is a misspelling; the correct one is "vengeance". (p. 319)

I wish there was a pronunciation guide as well (we all know how exasperatingly unphonetic English is), and, if there was an index, it would be much easier for readers to revisit an entry (I bought the Kindle version, and, since the entries are in an image format, I cannot use the search function for this purpose).

All things considered, Big & Fancy Words That Might Make You Smarter...er is an amazing resource for enriching your lexical repertoire – Mr. Squid deserves scores of plaudits! Buy this book (it won't make you impecunious), read it, and impress your audience with your upgraded vocabulary!

Have you read Big & Fancy Words That Might Make You Smarter...er? What are your thoughts on this vocabulary builder? Share in the comment section below!

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The Nature of Nature

Having finished chowing down on the exciting action-adventure novel ARK FOUND: An Omega Files Adventure (Book 2) by Rick Chesler, I feel it's time I wrote this article before setting off for my next read by the same author: Luna. I hope the seemingly redundant use of the word "nature" doesn't discourage you from resuming your perusal (I can assure you the title is carefully thought-out).

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What stimulated me to write this post is something along the lines of people vociferously complaining  about the existence of a video on social media showing the gory depiction of an animal killing and/or eating another animal of a different type. Think about lions hunting a zebra, for instance. (If you'd like to go back much further in time, imagine a Tyrannosaurus assailing a Triceratops in Late Cretaceous North America.) Such things are natural phenomena, and vehemently resenting and detesting them would naturally prompt me to raise my eyebrows.

I understand that such macabre events can make some (or many) flinch, but that's the harsh reality of nature. That's the nature of nature. Lions are predators and carnivores (their dental apparatus is not "designed" for ingesting vegetation) and without consuming flesh, they would simply vanish into thin air. They have evolved this way, and it is not their fault that they have to kill other animals in order to survive. Taking sides is a mind-bending thing to do and can lead to cognitive dissonance. Nevertheless, it seems that nowadays many people are drawn to this sort of behavior and continue engaging in mental masturbation – X is an extremely cute animal! Nobody and nothing should ever hurt it! The more videos of X thriving on social media I see, the more ecstatic I am!

An implication of the nature of nature pertains to morality. I have changed my mind on more than one thing in my life and this is one example of those. I used to firmly believe in absolute morality, but the nature of nature has simply crushed this way of thinking. Let's take birds and worms, for example. Is it morally right to catch worms and feed them to birds? Well, from birds' point of view, definitely yes, as it will give them the nutrients they need, but it's certainly a huge no from worms' standpoint, as it will contribute to their demise. Talking of this matter, Dr. Henry Wu's quote in Jurassic World has had a deep impact on me: "Monster is a relative term. To a canary, a cat is a monster. We're just used to being the cat."

Then, a question naturally arises: How should we live our lives? I think the best approach to answering this question is shown by the following quote from Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a.k.a. Osho: "You should care only about one thing, that you are happy, that you are blissful, that you are silent, that you are at ease with existence."

Related article: Animal Abuse

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Quote #119

"Genuine humility is a prerequisite for fully embracing evolution." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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Quote #115

"Do not fall for the execrable fearmongering propagated by demagogues around you." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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Quote #114

"Being geologically literate will eradicate a significant number of superstitions." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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Quote #112

"Books are pairs of magical wings that enable you to travel and explore limitless uncharted worlds boasting numberless life treasures." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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Lily and Maia: A Dinosaur Adventure – Book Review

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Lily and Maia: A Dinosaur Adventure

by Jack Horner

Illustrations by Grace Hattrup

Lily and Maia: A Dinosaur Adventure is an inspiring story about an intrepid, very young, female amateur paleontologist who is crazy about dinosaurs and goes on an adventure in Montana in quest of nests of Maiasaura. (Maiasaura is a type of duck-billed dinosaur which the author, Jack Horner, discovered with his friend in that region of the United States.) Why should this book be on every child's bookshelf?

Firstly, Lily and Maia highlights the importance of pursuing your passion. Life is short and, if possible, what is better than doing what you love? This book encourages parents and teachers alike to wholeheartedly support their children in their endeavors, as long as they are positive and bring good to the world.

Moreover, Lily and Maia raises the paramount theme of science. Fostering the love of science is dispensable as our species' existence hinges on it, and childhood is the best time to start instilling this quality. Through the medium of dinosaurs and paleontology, Lily and Maia beautifully conveys this critical message.

Dedicated to Jack Horner's colleague Holly Woodward and featuring lovely illustrations by Grace Hattrup, Lily and Maia offers a simple yet profound children's story filled with adventure, friendship, and science and is a great gift to the world of education.

Have you read Lily and Maia: A Dinosaur Adventure? What is your opinion on this children's book? Share in the comment section below!

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Quote #103

"There is a fundamental difference between purposefully offending someone and purely and simply telling them the truth." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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Quote #101

"If the truth makes you uncomfortable, don't deny it. Be grateful – you are on the right track." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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Quote #97

"Something that is uncriticizable is not worth defending." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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Quote #96

"Winners use intelligence, losers use violence." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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Quote #94

"The amount of mental gymnastics required to make sense of the dinosaurs without acceptance of the theory of evolution is utterly ridiculous." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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The Lurking Dangers of Social Media

We live in a vastly different world than we did only a couple of decades ago. I remember how challenging it was to communicate with distantly located fellow humans when I was a child. Landlines and pay phones were the norm, and sights of smartphones were almost non-existent. The advent of the internet in the 1980s was the start of a new era of communication, and the rest is history. The interconnectedness resulting from the existence of this magnificent invention is absolutely staggering and it still succeeds in making me shake my head untold times. One mind-bending product born of the internet is what I would like to discuss in this article: social media.

Who doesn't have social media accounts these days? I believe virtually everyone having access to the internet has created at least one in order to communicate with people in their circle, such as family or friends. I myself am a social media user, and you can find the links to some of my social media profiles on this very webpage. The reason why most of us utilize social media is a no-brainer. Communicating with others has never been so fast, easy, and fun. In my case, for example, I can interact with figures who would otherwise be unreachable, such as American novelist Rick Chesler, whose writing flair I greatly admire, and British paleozoologist Darren Naish, who was so kind as to acknowledge my linguistic contribution to his book Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved. (Nobody can fathom how ecstatic I was when Steve Brusatte followed me on Twitter!!!)

Despite the many positive things social media can bring about, there are potential dangers that could literally ruin someone's life. One of them is what I would term "the social media illusion of perfect lives". Open your Instagram app and see endless pictures and videos of people enjoying the best moments of their lives. It is as if every shot is enough of a representation of their whole lives. This could definitely lead us to envy those people, desire their "immaculate" ways of living, and pity our own lives. Which is a pity. Of course, no one's life is perfect. Social media users naturally post what is good for their audience to consume; nobody would want to expose their shenanigans or such to the people close to them, let alone the public. Hence, we need to realize and keep reminding ourselves that what we see on social media is just the "tip of the iceberg" – there is an invisible, hidden swath which we may never know.

Social media also poses an unseen threat to the users' lives through what is called "echo chambers". "What are these seemingly harmless things?" you may be asking. According to Macmillan Dictionary, an echo chamber is "a situation in which people only listen to or read others with the same views, and so are not receptive to or aware of different views". Can you now conceive the tremendous harm this could cause? Living in an echo chamber, or a social media bubble, means your mind being constricted as you are fed on the same type of information over and over again. Remember that having an open mind is absolutely critical in life, and what echo chambers do is prevent the necessary input from entering your mind, hampering your development as an individual. So, what can we do to deal with this potential problem? We should not blame algorithms; instead, I would suggest interacting regularly with other people who have different views from ours. We need to digest their perspectives, consider them carefully, and do our best to come to a clear, unbiased judgment.

Social media is a double-edged sword. They can improve our quality of life by leaps and bounds, yet their lurking dangers can nudge us into a harrowing abyss. Let's use them smartly.

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Quote #90

"Ability without humility reeks. Endless willingness to learn is aromatic." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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Quote #86

"No topics are sensitive if you are open-minded enough." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms – Book Review

Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms

by Marvin Terban

English grammar may be a tough nut to crack for many people. But if you ask me what the most challenging part of learning English is, I'd say, without a doubt, it is learning idiomatic expressions. According to my favorite online dictionary, Macmillan Dictionary, an idiom is "an expression whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words." This kind of language potentially causes confusion among English learners, and it almost certainly would at some point in their learning journeys. Finding incredibly useful resources for learning idioms is a must-do, and the Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms by Marvin Terban is a must-buy.

This book is a top-drawer idiom reference; I am absolutely blown away by its superb quality. Why should you read the Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms? Firstly, it boasts a whopping over 700 idioms, listed in alphabetical order. The sheer number should massively enrich your idiomatic vocabulary. Next, the definitions given are as clear as a bell. This is crucial to the success of learners' acquisition of the idioms. Thirdly, a simple, easy-to-understand example is provided for every idiom. Definitions are quite indispensable, but examples give the necessary context in which the idioms can be used, and clarify the grammatical roles and behavior of the words making them up. As if these are not enough, the author treats readers to information about the origins of the idioms. I have only read about those which I thought I had to and found them very interesting and well written. Learning how these idioms came to be has helped me incorporate them in my brain. There are also occasional cross-references in this feature, which have further expanded my knowledge of English idioms. All of these make the Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms an invaluable resource for those aiming to improve the idiomatic aspect of their English.

Part of the reason why I love this book so much is the author's fine writing style. Gorgeous, elegant, rich, and eloquent. I have to admit that I really admire Mr. Terban for this forte of his! I would also like you to note that all the idioms in this book are used in American English. This means that a British person might have difficulty in understanding some of them. For British idioms, you may want to check out Work on your Idioms by Sandra Anderson & Cheryl Pelteret.

If you want to be head and shoulders above your fellow English learners, idiom-wise, get the Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms by Marvin Terban at the drop of a hat!

Have you read the Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms? If so, share your two cents in the comment section below!

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Quote #84

"There's no such thing as overly critical thinking." - Klinsman Hinjaya

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