Customer Reviews

The American Heritage College Dictionary

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I as an intern at a book publisher, and I also used to shelve books in the reference section of Borders, so I've had a chance to form an opinion about the best dictionaries out there.

American Heritage is one of three dictionaries I think are worth owning and one of two that I think are tied for best. Describing all three in chronological order (and also in order from okay to great):

Merriam-Webster is the original Webster's dictionary; their collegiate dictionary is an abridgement of their Third New International Dictionary, the biggest dictionary of American English. Therefore some people, including the publisher I worked for, consider it the most authoritative dictionary. I used to think so too, but not anymore. I think it is too conservative and slow to embrace change. My M-W Collegiate Dictionary has a copyright date of 2000, but doesn't include words like "webcam" or "webmaster," which A.H. includes.

Webster's New World Dictionary has been around for about 50 years and I've heard that it's the dictionary most often used by journalists. It's as good as A.H. or any other college/desk/general-use dictionary you'll find. In a couple ways, W.N.W. is actually better: it does a really great job of cataloguing idioms, and a pretty good job with synonyms too. Definitely worth buying.

American Heritage has been around for about 20-25 years, I think, and to me what makes it most unique is its progressiveness and its quickness at cataloguing language change. "Webcam" and "webmaster" are in A.H. It's got great photos, too (especially the color photos in their unabridged edition, of course, but even in their college edition the black and white photos surpass anything in M-W or W.N.W.). When I look at a definition in A.H., I feel like I am seeing something relevant and up-to-date. I originally bought the unabridged A.H. dictionary, but I exchanged it for their college dictionary because personally I need a dictionary that's light enough that I can whip it off the shelf in a flash without the risk of injury (grin).

I own all three of the above dictionaries. When I worked at a bookstore, I recommended either A.H. or W.N.W. as being the best. To me it is a matter of taste which is the best. If I had to choose one, I'd be a tough choice. I guess I'd pick W.N.W. just because I think it gives you more content for your dollar, but I'm glad I own A.H. too. As you can see from my rating, it is a 5-star dictionary, and in some ways it is the best.

This is a review of the hardcover dictionary only; I did not purchase the CD. I have an older edition paperback American Heritage dictionary, but wanted a hardcover desk reference that was more comprehensive, without getting one of those massive, all-encompassing tomes that I could hurt my back trying to use.

I considered three dictionaries - the American Heritage College dictionary, the Merriam Webster Collegiate dictionary, and the Oxford American Desk Dictionary. I compared a few definitions, the paper quality, and page layout (font size, spacing, etc.)

All three dictionaries seem to have good definitions - the wording varies, of course, for each one. The Oxford seemed to have the most direct, straightforward definitions, but lacked secondary definitions or didn't have as many word usage / word history tidbits (which I like, but which admittedly are not essential) as the American Heritage.

Paper quality for each is good, although the Merriam Webster's page brightness was a little "dim" for me - Oxford and American Heritage pages were just the right brightness, making the pages seem more crisp and easy to read.

I really like the page layout for the American Heritage - clear, nicely-spaced font that is easy on the eyes and makes reading a joy. I didn't have the problem some have mentioned with respect to words "running into" the spine - just tilt your head a little, and you can read the definitions just fine. Oxford page layout is likewise nice; reading Merriam-Webster gave me a headache because everything is "scrunched" together - spacing between lines is woefully inadequate, in my opinion.

In sum, the American Heritage is a quality "midsize" dictionary. Oxford is also nice. Merriam-Webster didn't cut it for me.

Although it is perennially outsold by the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - whose red cover will be familiar to Reference shelf browsers, thanks to M-W's large advertising and distribution budget - the American Heritage is far and away the superior product: (in descending order of importance) unmatched clarity of definitions, cleanliness of layout (better than even the AH Unabridged, in this respect), and currency of coverage. This dictionary will meet your lexicographical needs in fine style 99.9% of the time. For that 1-in-1000 occasion, you'll have to go the library and suffer through the Oxford English Dictionary's fusty definition style.

I purchased this book as a gift for a high school graduate going off to college. I have been teaching college English for thirty-three years, and have been requiring my English Composition students to buy it since the first edition came out. The definitions and resources in this book are startlingly clear; the "Usage Panel" notes of previous editions contain wonderful discussions of the "majority" opinions of a panel of experts on complex usage questions that baffle most of us every day. The American Heritage Dictionary is the most reliable definer of American English as it is used today, and I treasure its reliablity and accuracy. No home should be without it. I haven't looked at the CD Rom included in this edition, but it is probably as superb as the book itself for the computer generation leading us into the future. I prefer pages and wanderings. If you don't own this book, you are depriving yourself of an adventure in discovery. Don't go one more day without it.

This volume is a wonderful reference, but the flesh of a dictionary is in what can be gleaned from reading it as one would read any other book. It is our language's history which reflects its majesty; therefore, the most cogent information lies hidden, pearl-like, in the etymologies, and the American Heritage College Dictionary delivers a linguistic history much beyond any other standard college volume. Not only are the etymologies clear, but they contain references to word families which lie in its superb proto-Indo-European appendix. Exciting? Only if one fully appreciates that it is the music of language which offers the rhythm to our wings beating toward the heavens above the other animals.

The extra scholarly information offered therein makes the AHCD worthy of a course of study showcasing this book alone. Further, its illustrations are precise, up-to-date, and beautiful.

I wish the letter tabs had been cut where the words starting with that letter begin, rather than in the middle of entries that begin, for example, with "P." This modern arrangement makes the AHCD more visually esthetic, but less efficient. A dictionary that already dares to be so different can afford to revert to a system which was better.

This is that rarity--a dictionary that's actually enjoyable to read. The definitions are not just clear and informative, they're interesting. Countless times I've used it to look up a word, heeded a suggestion to consult another, gotten sidetracked by a third, and before I know it have taken a brief, quirky tour of the corpus of world knowledge. And if you have any interest in etymology or historical linguistics, this is the dictionary for you. It does have that problem with the narrow inner margins, but otherwise the typography is well designed, readable and clear.

This book is exactly what A.com describes in its review. Margins are a bit of a problem, but you get an almost unabridged dictionary in one tenth the space. I am still searching for a fine print version at one half the size of this one.

David A. Jost, The American Heritage College Dictionary's senior lexicographer & project director says the tome is "meant to be readable and companionable, so the reader will be drawn within it to linger and learn".

Indeed, a worthy goal.

I personally have always enjoyed reading dictionaries. Learning the rubric of a subject, the jargon and the lexicon has always proved a wonderful way into genuine understanding. All dictionaries should be easy to read.

Unfortunately, The American Heritage College Dictionary is NOT!

For some impossible to understand reason the editors decided to run an inch wide column along every page where they sometimes (but not always) put perfunctory illustrations and photographs. This bewildering compositional choice meant they had to force the small printed words (it's a dictionary after all!) into the inner margins where they cannot be read without bending the spine of the book!

It's a useless travesty of a reference volume and a waste of editorial talent. Every time I open it I cannot help but feel ripped-off. And it's got at least one strikingly funny error on page 998 where the moronic illustration for the word "passant" has the heraldic lion looking the wrong way - by AHCD's own definition!

It's as if no one really thought about what they were doing from a reader's point of view, even though that was the express intention of the project director.

Had I a chance to examine this book before I bought it I wouldn't have.

As for the book, earlier reviews that warn of tight inner margins are absolutely correct -- I have to sit on the book to read the innermost words.

Further, it's not called "College" for nothing -- children will be amused with entries like "son of a b----" and "motherf---er."

As for the Mac software, there are two problems.

1. The old version, while limited in vocabulary, allowed all four windows to be displayed simultaneously; definitions, synonyms, anagrams and word list. With this version you have to choose one at time, via pulldown menus or hotkeys.

2. Although you can transfer the ~15mb dictionary to your hard drive and get definitions without having the CD-ROM mounted, this does not apply to pronunciations: First, the sound data is another 300+ mb. Second, after transferring all that, it still wants to use the CD-ROM, and there's no way to point it to the hard drive.

I'm pondering a refund on this one...

Nice book. Great book even but don't buy it for the CD. There are plenty of other electronic dictionaries and thesaurii that provide a far easier interface. The opening box comes up in the center of the screen. No apparent methods to have it defaulted for size or placement. The opening screen always defaults to "A" and not your last word. Hence, you lose your ability to start where you left off on writing projects. If you want to follow a train on a similar word in a defintion or thesaurus, you need to type it in. No double click to speed up search. Basically, the CD is not much more useful than the printed version.