Customer Reviews

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Editon: Print and CD-ROM Edition (.)

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

 

 

Any lover of the English language should never be satisfied with just one dictionary in his library; all have their own strengths, weaknesses, peculiarities, biases and feel. Essentially, your decision rests between two ends of a spectrum: the Oxford English Dictionary and The American Heritage Dictionary -- regardless of which side of the pond you reside -- and a Webster's dictionary somewhere in the middle.

The AHD represents the cutting edge in American lexicography. It's hip, it's cool, and it's filled with color photos. It includes brand new verbs such as "google". It's a great book to sit down with and browse through for hours, and it is a lot of fun.

I use the American Heritage Dictionary quite a bit in my research, however I find myself asking the question; "what is the purpose of a dictionary?" Is it to preserve the English language and grammar or to simply be a repository of all the words and quirky expressions that are spoken? The AHD seems to be an advocate of the latter. Its "Our Living Language" usage notes give credence and validate dialect such as "y'all" (you all), "ax" (ask) and the continual overuse of "like" as being conversation filler. (It's not just for teenagers anymore!)

It is worthwhile to look through the list of people who comprise the Usage Panel on the American Heritage Dictionary, an eclectic (questionable?) mix of individuals to say the least: the late Carl Sagan, Molly Ivins, Robin Cooke M.D., and others including film critics, poets, and even radio commentators. Throughout the AHD there is a disconcerting acceptance of non-standard English and, as other reviewers have noted, a heavy amount of political correctness. Ultimately, this dictionary does a remarkable job of presenting current American English usage as spoken, for better or for worse.

At the opposite end of your dictionary purchase decision is the behemoth Oxford English Dictionary: the "Concise" version being comparable in size (and cost) to the American Heritage Dictionary. Here we have the keeper of our mother tongue, with a more stringent adherence to grammar -- some might say to the point of being stodgy. However, if you are concerned with the degradation of English and wish to preserve its usage and write "correctly", the OED is the better choice. Like the AHD, the Concise OED is a lot of fun to sit with and browse. Its many usage notes will clarify and take a stand on common confusions, such as "media" being a plural noun, whereas the American Heritage Dictionary seems to have given up fighting that battle and recognizes current vernacular. Which is right? I'm not sure. I like the flexibility of the AHD, but find myself referring to the OED just as often, especially in matters of grammar.

So my recommendation is to own both dictionaries if you are a true lover of English and are the type of geek like me who enjoys reading a dictionary without having anything in particular to look up. The AHD is a really cool book -- the color photos and layout make it more than worth the purchase price -- and it is on top of all language trends, slang, and dialects within the United States. The OED is to be revered and relished for its love of the language and its desire to preserve it.

Or, if you prefer, at times the American Heritage Dictionary seems flaky, and at times the Oxford English Dictionary seems stuffy.

And if you merely need to look up words from time-to-time and aren't interested in linguistic controversy, any of the Webster's line of dictionaries will make a fine, and more affordable choice.

I love this dictionary. I have used a previous edition of this dictionary for many years. This fourth edition is very nice and has color pictures in it. Also the entry words are in a neat dark green which enhances the look of the pages. The words in the definitions are pretty small, though, so older people will definitely need their reading glasses. I find the size acceptable though and this small text helps to keep the dictionary down to a fairly reasonable size. The CD-ROM is very nice for computer use and the words and definitions can be enlarged. The whole CD can be loaded on the computer (if you have enough room for this) so that you don't need to keep the CD in the computer which is a real plus over a previous version of the software. The software, on installation, puts little icons in Word, Excel and Internet Explorer so that you can highlight a word in those programs, click on the little icon and get a definition - very handy. But I miss the Word of the Day that a previous version of the software had. Also, you can no longer double click on a word in the definition to get the meaning of that word. You have to use a more laborious left click, hold down left button and drag across the word to highlight the whole word and then click on the lookup tab. Also if you are thinking about getting the downloadable version from the website instead of buying here on Amazon, don't. Avoid the downloaded version that you can directly buy from the company as the audio pronounciations can take up to 20 seconds or longer to hear after you click on the audio icon. With this disk version that comes with the dictionary, if you load the audio to your hard disk, the pronounciations are instantaneous (on my new computer at least). The installation disk says it is compatible with Windows 2000, ME, XP and the MacIntosh OS X operating systems. I have an XP operating system. My Microsoft Office is Office XP with Word 2002, Excel 2002 and I have Internet Explorer 6.0.

As usual the "American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language" is a must-buy. It's comprehensive, up-to-date, and easy to use. Yet, I'm giving it only 4 points, since the CD-ROM doesn't have a full-text search function (which, in my view, is very bad).

CD is not compatible with Windows 7 64-bit operating system, so don't buy this if that's your operating system as you won't be able to load the CD. Thus, the CD's only use is as a coaster for your cold beverage. Also, publisher doesn't seem to have a 64-bit compatible CD available as an update, so you can't buy this and then somehow exchange CDs with the publisher to get a version that works on the newer Windows 7 64-bit system. Now that many of us have the Windows 7 64-bit operating system, the product description should describe this limitation and how this will only work on older operating systems.

You should be aware that the CD that comes with this will NOT install on PCs running Vista or Windows7 (I think it might be a problem for the latest Mac OS too). On two attempts to install, it crashed my computer. I called their customer support number and got voice mail. They returned the call in a couple of hours, asked for my email address and sent me a code to download a new version that does support both Vista and Windows7. It installed fine.

The American Heritage Dictionary with CD-ROM is a great resource for the highly mobile laptop user. The hard back book is a handsome shelf reference for office use, but the easy to maneuver CD-ROM makes working while traveling with your laptop an easy, accurate, and enjoyable task.

If you're buying the 4th edition of the American Heritage because you're looking for a CD-ROM dictionary, and you remember your experience with the LAST edition of the American Heritage's CD-ROM, don't waste your time with this one. I just bought this combo for specifically that reason, while still owning the 3rd edition hardcover, which was in excellent condition. My old CD-ROM was damaged, and I needed a replacement. There were several CD-ROM dictionaries available, and some were very expensive. One of the Merriam-Webster CD-ROM editions -- by itself -- costs as much as this combo, so as I worked at a decision, I was leaning heavily toward the more familiar product. My hesitation was a result of a couple of these customer reviews that claimed it didn't have a reverse-look-up feature (for when you remember the words included in the definition, but you can't remember the term itself). I couldn't believe that this simple but very useful search capability would be eliminated from the NEWER edition. I mean, come on: software EVOLVES, doesn't it? A step backwards in sophistication is contrary to the general trend in technology. So I ignored those customer reviews and opted for the familiar product, whether I needed the latest hardcover edition or not.

Now I can tell you with absolute certainty, if you looked at this bargain combo as I did, and considered the printed edition a bonus to what you were really looking for, let me warn you off: the other customer who'd stated that the reverse-look-up feature was omitted this time out is correct. I installed it and looked it over thoroughly, and this feature is not provided. Amazingly remiss for a modern edition, don't you think? And to further make it a disappointment, a lot of words just simply aren't in it, forcing me to set out for a definition on one of the internet dictionaries, and some of the words I had to look up were from common classic novels. I'm telling you, if you already have the 3rd edition of The American Heritage Dictionary, and you're buying this for the CD-ROM, don't do it. I later ordered the Merriam Websters Collegiate Dictionary & Thesaurus 11th Edition CD-ROM for less than half the price of this combo package, and this was more in line with my needs. It includes the reverse look-up, and, in fact, it claims in the product description and on the packaging that it has twenty-one search options (but to date, I've located only fifteen). In any case, it meets my needs, and at a decent price.
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I've been using the digital version of The American Heritage Dictionary since 1995. It is one of the most useful references that I have. Hoping to get an updated dictionary and an improved interface I bought this new version. Whereas the dictionary contains updated content and many new words, the software implementation is amateurish. My old version was designed by Softkey, the new one (1999-2006) by Kanda Software. The new interface is poorly designed both aesthetically and functionally. Important features of the old version are missing. Gone is the Word Hunter, which looks for definitions that contain given words. I am so disappointed with this new version that I am still using the old one.

What do I mean by a "crossover dictionary?"

Well, I have noticed in recent months and years that the CD-ROMs included in dictionaries get an awful lot more use than the dictionaries themselves! I first noticed this with a nifty Thai-English dictionary. The CD version is so much easier to use that it's not even funny. But I looked around my computer and realized that I was doing an awful lot of Google searches for English word definitions, and was not really happy with the results. One example would be the word "flair." I was curious about the word's derivation / etymology, since I was pretty sure there was a French word "flairer" which means "to smell or scent." The on-line dictionaries were no help.

Now I have the American Heritage Dictionary on my computer, and it's a LOT more helpful. It's also a lot easier to use than the paper edition, which does weigh 8.2 POUNDS! :-) Note that the CD includes a couple of small freebies (!) --- a big huge thesaurus, and the complete Indo-European dictionary. The words all come with etymologies, and by gum there is that French verb "flairer," as I suspected.

Well worth looking at!! Well worth buying!!

One note: on my system, which has a lot of free space, the CD install took over 30 minutes. I guess that this is the fault of some really dumb copy algorithm in the installer, but still --- be aware.

The combination of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition, AND the CD software containing the full content to be stored on hard drive, is an exceptional value and resource. I very much recommend this combination.

I had been searching for the Mac OS X update to the American Heritage Dictionary 3rd Edition (for Mac OS 9)-- [same CD also for Windows], but that software eluded me. Houghton Mifflin Company website offering wasn't clear; a rep from HMC did satisfy my questions: in that an online version of software (minimal 12MB application is downloaded to your local computer), and lookups are extracted from HMC's database via a connection to the Net. That "eReference" software was, in my measure of expectation, inadequate, albeit I'm sure a very fine option. The price difference was an amazingly small $10 extra for both the CD (dictionary software with Thesaurus) and printed dictionary.

May I suggest to get it all; you'll be most pleased. I use mine constantly. Oh, and be prepared for a very heavy package when it arrives.

As to the functionality of the software, it's tops! I haven't found a better one. Check the features, download the sample eReference product (7 days only), then decide. The illustrations and color pictures are very beautiful, inviting and stimulate research. --Dan Murray; Big Timber, MT