The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know by E. D. Hirsch (Author), Joseph F. Kett (Author), James Trefil (Author). In this fast-paced information age, how can People know what's really essential and what's just a passing fashion? Now greater than ever, we want a supply that concisely sums up the knowledge that matters to People -- the folks, locations, concepts, and occasions that shape our cultural conversation. With greater than six thousand entries, The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy is that invaluable source.

Wi-fi technology. Gene therapy. NAFTA. In addition to the hundreds of phrases described within the original Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, listed here are more than 5 hundred new entries to carry Americans' financial institution of essential knowledge up to date. The original entries have been totally revised to mirror current modifications in world historical past and politics, American literature, and, especially, science and technology. Cultural icons which have stood the test of time (Odysseus, Leaves of Grass, Cleopatra, the Taj Mahal, D-Day) seem alongside entries on such different concerns as cryptography, the digital divide, the European Union, Kwanzaa, pheromones, SPAM, Sort A and Type B personalities, Net browsers, and much, much more.

As our world turns into more global and interconnected, it grows smaller by means of the phrases and touchstones that unite us. As E. D. Hirsch writes in the preface, "Group is built up of shared data and values -- the same shared information that's taken with no consideration after we learn a e book or newspaper, and that is additionally taken with no consideration as part of the material that connects us to 1 another." A delicious concoction of data for anybody who wants to be in the know, The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy brilliantly confirms as soon as again that it is "an excellent piece of work . . . Stimulating and enlightening" (New York Occasions) -- the most definitive and comprehensive family Sourcebook of its kind.

This book blew my mind. I picked it anticipating both one thing excessively pedantic with a tough-to-abdomen emphasis on excessive culture, or something that entirely did not dwell as much as its ambitious title. I found neither. This marvelous e-book incorporates 6,900 brief entries on interesting and often excitingly handy items of information that one can in any other case accumulate solely by residing on the planet for a very lengthy time. I was acquainted with an easy majority of the entries, however I realized one thing new in nearly each one. I found the scope and depth of the material presented to be properly balanced, and the entries well chosen. What amazed me most in regards to the book, nevertheless, was how steadily I was awed by the rate at which I used to be learning. On every web page, I used to be capable of fill gaps in my data - some that irked me each time I picked up a newspaper, watched a movie or read a guide, and others that I didn't know I had.

The guide is organized into chapters by category. Categories embrace history, politics, geography, anthropology, business and economics, bodily sciences, earth sciences, life sciences, medication and well being, technology, the bible, mythology, proverbs and idioms, literature, conventions of English and fine arts. The business and economics section, as well as the politics and medicine sections had been amongst my favorites.

If you can complete the New York Occasions Sunday crossword puzzle in underneath ten minutes, this book will not be for you. If you cannot, I insist that you purchase this guide immediately. Extremely recommended. 

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know 

 E. D. Hirsch (Author), Joseph F. Kett (Author), James Trefil (Author)

672 pages

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Rev Upd edition (October 3, 2002)

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