Customer Reviews

Vocabulary Cartoons: Building an Educated Vocabulary with Visual Mnemonics

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Like many of you, I have used lots of other methods in memorizing vocabularies, and only found that it is totally useless. Even though you have learned those new words one day, you forgot them the next day. It is because we do not make the best use of our brain in memorization. If you know psychology, you know that human memorize by association, that is, you link up a new fact with the old information already contained in your mind. The success of this book is to help you to form association with other English words that you have already known. For example, according the book, the word "Giddy" is associated with an easier word "City", because they have similar pronounciation. Then a picture showing a village farmer getting dizzy with all the complicated roads in the city remind you the meaning of "giddy": dizzy, frivolous. The mnemonic method are based on psychological research, and that is why it is a good source in learning new words. I have tried Princeton Review Word Smart Cassette Programme before, and found that I forgot those learned words within a few days. This book has better methods, and the cartoon makes the whole learning experience less stressful.

I was one of the Florida teachers who tested Vocabulary Cartoon study aids in actual classroom tests in 1997. In double blind tests, my eighth grade students with the vocabulary cartoon books learned three times more than in the control class with traditional rote memory vocabulary books. Both classes studied the same words and were given the same study time. I highly recommend the memory aid format found in the vocabulary books to both parents and teachers. Diane Woolley Port Charlotte Middle School Port Charlotte, Florida

This is the best mnemonic vocabulary book I've come across. Most vocabulary books expect the reader to simply memorize dozens of words from a definition, an etymology and a sentence, then use fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice to reinforce and test you. As most know, it quickly becomes overwhelming. Vocabulatoons visual representations are truly memorable and I still remember the picture for the word for fjord (tourists looking at Ford cars in a Fjord).

The words are definitely geared toward high-school vocabulary and the SAT (as the book cover suggests) so I found myself already knowing about 75% of the words (e.g. gloat, legacy, phobia, vocation, ajar, aftermath).

I'm hoping the sequel to this book will have more advanced words, however, it never hurts to reinforce what words you *think* you already know.

Revised and Updated Edition!

Unlike the second volume, the cartoons in the first volume are well drawn.

I have several gripes with this book. It barely achieves its purpose. Before giving it to someone who greatly appreciated it, I went through the book and made corrections, so that the learner would not learn incorrect English. One would expect the pronunciations to be consistent and correct. The example sentences sound like a 7th grader's first attempt to use the word in a sentence. The definitions seem to use more SAT words to clarify the meaning of the word.

I would think they would correct all the mistakes when they update the book.

Following are some embarrassing mistakes:

Comprise: The word "comprise" is never followed by the word "of." The authors knew this rule, but still made the mistake of writing, "was comprised of..." and later forgetting to erase the "was."

"It was not a pleasant surprise when the pirates discovered their treasure was comprised only party favors."
"The first aid kit was comprised a bottle of aspirin, two gauze pads, and a pair of scissors."


Fathom: (fa THUM) Have you ever heard this word pronounced with emphasis on the last syllable? I checked all my dictionaries and of course the word is (FATH um).


Vol. 2:

Terse: (terce) That is the helpful guide to pronunciation. First of all, who would use the letter "c" in guiding pronunciation? An "s" or a "k" will suffice. Secondly, even if the authors chose to use "c" to mean "s," the adjacent page has tenacious pronounced (teh NAY shus); the last "s" makes the appropriate sound. Be consistent!

Obtrude: (aub TROOD)

Obese: (oh BEECE) Again...the letter "c" is the least helpful letter for pronunciation, when "s" would work.

Malcontent: Some of you may think I am being overly strict with regard to proper English, but the reason I am being strict is because this is an educational book pretending to teach English. The example sentence reads, "We seem to always have one malcontent who can negatively impact team spirit." The word "impact," does not mean "affect" or "influence." To "have an impact on" is the way to write it. If you use "impact" as a verb, and some would only use it as a noun, then it means "slam into, collide, crush."

Bequest: link: GO WEST. Mnemonic device sentence: "Joe's last bequest was to go west." How on earth this mnemonic sentence has anything to do with the meaning of the word. If anything, it would only confuse the student.

One more annoyance with the book is this: readers get frustrated when two words, which have the same definition (beset, beleaguer), are in the same chapter, and in the same "matching" quiz. So they arbitrarily pick one or the other, or throw the book down.

(If anyone points out a misspelling or grammatical error in this review, I'm fine with that. After all, I am not publishing and selling a book to teach students English.)

Vocabulary Cartoons 290 key words presented through cartoons.
Each word contains a "link" word which is intended to serve as a mnemonic device, helping you to associate the new word to the word that you may be more familiar with. A good deal of the "link" words rhyme with the "key" word. To make the association even easier, the authors have provided a phrase which is easy to remember as in "We LAMENT that Joe got buried in CEMENT". This phrase is portrayed through a cartoon, providing a visual mnemonic.

Under each cartoon, you'll find three sentences with contexts where it may be appropriate to use the "key" word. These examples will also help you to develop the feel for the word, as well as to create more associations to the key word.

The authors have appropriately said that this book is "for everyone". The words in this vocabulary book seem to be for the most part on a high-school level.

You can sit down for 15 minutes a day and learn 30 SAT words. There is no other book like this anywhere. Buy it. It is really amazing..

I absolutely loved this book. Not only have I learned the 250 words effeciently in a fun way, but I also developed the ability to use menomic device for other words as well.

This book offers a much easier, funner, faster, and better way to learn and to *REMEMBER* vocabulary than most other vocabulary books (including those by Kaplan, Princeton Review, *for Dummies, Arco, and Barrons). What makes this book an excellent buy is the unique method that is employed in teaching vocabulary: humorous CARTOONS that serve as visual mnemonics! You will rarely find this strategy utilized anywhere else! Verbal mnemonics for each word are also incorportated into the book. This ensures that you will not forget the words you've learned!

The words used in this resource emphasize focus on attaining a better score on the verbal section of the SAT I. I have come across most of the 300 words in this book on sample SAT Is. I would recommend this title to those who would like to effectively increase their vocabulary in a short amount of time, especially to those with weak vocabularies.

A sample word used in this book is "ubiquitous". The verbal mnemonic is "as big as us". The visual mnemonic is a cartoon that features two extremely heavyset people who claim: When you're "as big as us" you feel "ubiquitous". (Ubiquitous, by the way, refers to the quality of being everywhere at once.)

How To Double Your Vocabulary

Despite advertising hype, no ONE book will double your vocabulary, but reading several vocabulary-building books can double your vocabulary. Different vocabulary-building books have different words and different explanations. If you don't learn a word from one book, you can learn it from another book.

Any vocabulary-building book will have many words, a fourth to half the book, that you already understand. You can always skip or skim the easy-to-you words.

Varied, incomplete word selection is another reason for using several books. Some books just take words used on past-standardized tests, neglecting other words. Other books, limit their words to words based on word roots, neglecting others. Often authors have thrown in personal favorite words, even if others rarely use the words. If you see a word in two or three books, it's generally a need-to-know word.

Cartoon/Mnemonic vocabulary books have their fans who like the mnemonic memory aids, which are useful before tests. If you don't like cartoons with mnemonic reminders, don't buy this book. The main weakness of Vocabulary Cartoons is with only one word and one cartoon per page, these books may only have a few hundred words and are expensive per word. Audio vocabulary books such as Elite Word Power, let you hearing each word pronounced correctly, helpful for improving speaking vocabulary.

At first I thought this book would help me increase my score of 650. But I soon found the book lacking in more difficult words. Words such as gainsay and mundane are words that I seem to use in my so-called coloquial language.

I only recommend this book to those who want to reinforce their vocabulary or have trouble recalling things under pressure.