Customer Reviews

From Archetype to Zeitgeist Powerful Ideas for Powerful Thinking

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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

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.