The Devil's Dictionary (Dover Thrift Editions: Literary Collections)

The book easily rates five stars for its humor, insight and pithiness. Indispensable.The Dover Thrift Editions paperback is, indeed, UNABRIDGED. Reviewers' comments disfavoring abridged editions are likely well-taken but misapplied to the Dover edition. Amazon's ill-conceived policy of mixing and sloppily denominating reviews of various editions is presumably once again the culprit.I have a copy of the comprehensively annotated University of Georgia edition, but prefer the easier to use, bare-bones Dover edition. The UGA edition contains a dry, academic history of the work and includes appendices featuring notes and additional definitions that Bierce himself chose to omit when he supervised the 1911 publication of his collected works. There's really not much need for a pricier copy. In fact, the Dover edition's format is superior in its use of boldface for the word entries and a smaller typeface to present Bierce's illustrative stories, poems and quotations. Like the author, it is also a triumph of economy, taking only 139 pages to present the exact core content that the UGA edition requires over 100 more to set forth (with its use of larger fonts and broader line spacing).Buy the maximum three copies of the Dover for the price of one of the other editions and give the other two away. You and your friends will be glad you did.

some samples: advice: the smallest current coin; brute: see husband; cannibal: a gastronome of the old school; court fool: the plaintiff; distance: one thing the rich allow the poor to call theirs and keep; enough: all there is in the world if you like it; guillotine: a device at which the French shrug with good reason; hash: no definition -- no one knows what hash is; hearse: Death's baby-carriage; ocean: an expanse of water covering c 2/3 of a world designed for humans, who have no gills; omen: a sign that something will happen if nothing happens; USA Presidency: the greased pig in the field of USA politics ¶ this is a witty, insightful collection to be read in spare moments, not all at once. ¶ this Dover Thrift Edition is well produced in c 8pt type, small but clear; some negative reviews here must allude to lesser productions. ¶ Bierce's macabre short stories are no laughing matter. I highly recommend those also -- not only `An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' but his oeuvre.

For decades I have read and been amused by the cynical definitions from Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary." Finally I decided to get a copy. Though much of it is outdated from the 1800s, there were more than enough gems to be worth purchasing it. Things like: "Peace, n. In international affairs, a period of cheating between two periods of fighting." "Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a conflict of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage." And, "In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, Bain is so highly regarded that it is exempted from the cares of (public) office." There are numerous small poems illustrating his definitions by poets I never heard of leading me to suspect they were written by Bierce himself, as doubtless were the many fanciful anecdotes. Well worth a writer's time.Robert A. HallAuthor: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic

Ambrose Bierce was a wry and biting cynic of the late 19th/early 20th century, and this dictionary contains his sometimes-hilarious, always cynical definitions of about 1100 common words.Here's a random sample: " BATTLE: A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would not yield to the tongue."I browse it for a laugh, and gave copies to my siblings, too. Whether you will like it depends on your view of the world and humanity, I think.

Printing & Paper Sub Par

Bought as a reader copy so I didn't risk damaging a much more valuable copy. Spot checked a few words and it all checks out. As far as the book itself, great read for any cynics or dark humor types out there....nothing to do with the Devil. When people see the book, they are taken back a bit by the title so be prepared to explain. I love this book and how much of the cynical humor from the late 1800s to early 1900s still translates to our daily lives today. Is considered by many as one of the 100 greatest American literary masterpieces.

I purchased the book for purposes of research and as the basis for my own dictionary. It was not as comprehensive as I hoped, but it served my purpose extremely well. My dictionary, which seeks to define and document my theory of metaphor, is (in my opinion) better for my use of the dictionary. (Book published by Amazon.com is entitled Metamorphosis: A Proposed Path to Independent Living.)

If you write, for any reason, you need this book. Not sure if Orwell ever read this, but if he did, it must have been an inspiration for Politics and the English Language..

This is a brilliant book although probably most appreciated by older readers. It is not a book that one settles down to read. It is a book will provide "dipping into" material for years to come. I had been promising myself a copy for a long time having heard it being quoted from on TV and radio. It came as a great surprise to learn that Ambrose Bierce was an American born in the 19th century.

For anyone with a positively cantankerous outlook on the modern usage of the English language, what you need is this, a brilliantly satirical compendium of language from around the turn of the 20th Century, which gives many an anecdotal phrase a bitter yet pertinent realistic twist.I give you... Man, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is, as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be.

The Devil's Dictionary is a satirical dictionary written by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce consisting of common words followed by "howlingly funny" definitions.

was expecting something different

Excellent