From Archetype to Zeitgeist: Powerful Ideas for Powerful Thinking [Paperback]

Herbert Kohl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0316501395 | ISBN-13: 978-0316501392

This is an essential guide to these intriguing and important words. Organized by topic--including the Arts, Literature, Religion, Psychology, Economics, and Political Science--the book explains each word in a comprehensive yet concise definition, with a pronunciation guide and derivation added for easy reference.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (September 7, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316501395
• ISBN-13: 978-0316501392
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,167,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Very Special Wordbook, December 26, 1999

By 

Natmama (Redondo Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Archetype to Zeitgeist: Powerful Ideas for Powerful Thinking (Paperback)

I highly recommend this unusual resource. Kohl compiled these short essays to help his college students build necessary vocabulary in particular study areas, and each chapter deals with a different discipline. His theory was that ordinary dictionary definitions don't give enough "meat" to allow someone unfamiliar with a technical term to really learn to use it. So he not only defines the words, he gives them a context, and sets the whole into a deeper context of a field of study. Thus, the literature chapter introduces "deconstructionism," "incunabula" and "magic realism," as well as "hyperbole," "irony," "simile" and so forth. The arts, the sciences, the social sciences, logic and religion are among the areas he covers. Really useful for a college-level student, or anyone learning about a new discipline.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ABC's of "Intellectual (Speak) (Think?)", February 21, 2008

By 

Herbert L Calhoun "paulocal" (Falls Church, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Archetype to Zeitgeist: Powerful Ideas for Powerful Thinking (Paperback)

A virtual dictionary of the terms, theories, concepts and "tricks-of-the-trade" of the "post-Modern thinkers:" Artists, Art and literary critics and philosophers. Answers all of the questions you ever wanted to pose to them but were afraid to ask -- and does so in alphabetical order.

An indispensable and handy reference guide to those like me who can never remember the difference between "moderism" and "post-moderism, or between "essentialism" and "epiphenomenalism," etc.

None of the entries are more than a couple of paragraphs long but are stripped of all but what is essential to understand the "meat' of the ideas and concepts. Like my American Express card, I won't leave home without it.

Five Stars

5.0 out of 5 stars Handy book for learning or review, April 6, 2011

By 

J. Grannis (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: From Archetype to Zeitgeist: Powerful Ideas for Powerful Thinking (Paperback)

My senior English teacher recommended this book to us as a good reference in preparation for college. I bought it then, read it then, learned the basics about a lot of terms I wasn't intimately familiar with. Over the years, I'd reference it from time to time, until I loaned it out at some point. Recently bought a new copy for my wife and I to have as a continued reference. So, worth buying a second time. Obviously, much of what is here is now available on the internet in much greater detail; however, the book does an excellent job of condensing the topics to easily digested morsels. Reading the corresponding article in Wikipedia will probably net you more information, but it might not be the concise summary that is sometimes all you need. It fills a great niche between dictionary and encyclopedia.