Oxford Companion to The English Language

"If a telephone reference caller asks what deconstructionism is–or for the difference between a spondee and a dactyl, or for a clarification of Nice-Nellyism or the Gunning Fog Index–this is the source to reach for. The range here is wonderfully broad: language history, dialects, grammar, style, rhetoric, and so forth… this is a fine book for reference and browsing. Highly recommended."

Language is the life blood of a culture, and to be interested in culture is in some sense to be interested in language, in the shapes and sounds of words, in the history of reading, writing, and speech, in the endless variety of dialects and slangs, in the incessant creativity of the human mind as it reaches out to others.

With 1001 A-Z entries, ranging from brief statements to substantial essays on major topics, The Oxford Companion to the Mind takes the reader on a lively tour of this endlessly fascinating subject, spanning questions and answers within the broad compass of philosophy, psychology, and the physiology of the brain. This hugely-popular reference work offers an explanatory guide to everyday mysteries–deja vu, jet-lag, humor, and optical illusions–as well as an intelligent look at the more controversial world of parapsychology, including ESP and altered states of consciousness. Current issues such as aging, artificial intelligence, and criminology are examined in depth. The book provides a special tutorial article on the workings of the nervous system, and boasts a great number of articles on 'topics of mental life', in which well-known writers discuss subjects in which they have a particular expertise or interest.