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Reviews of: I Before E (Except After C): Old-School Ways to Remember Stuffby Judy Parkinson
Reviews Indulge yourself! This is a little gem of a book; I bought it thinking it would give me helpful ways of knowing and remembering more about grammar - but it's so much more than this. The whole book is about mnemonics and rhymes as memory aids, grouped into 17 themed categories as listed in the contents page, which is viewable on the 'Search Inside' feature. This book is ideal for flicking open and dipping into whatever page it lands on as it not only cites fascinating facts/trivia it also provides the means for remembering them! To give a flavour of the diversity of information in this book, here's a rhyme which caught my attention (I hope the information's accurate!) on what's good to choose for firewood: Beech wood fires are bright and clear, If the logs are kept a year, Chestnut's only good, they say, If for long it's laid away. Birch and fir logs burn too fast, Blaze up bright and do not last. Elm wood burns like churchyard mould, Even the very flames are cold. Poplar gives a bitter smoke, Fills you eyes and makes you choke. Apple wood will scent your room, With an incense like perfume. Oak and maple, if dry and old, Keep away the winter cold. But ash wood wet and ash wood dry, A king shall warm his slippers by. 2008-06-19 Brimming with fun ways to remember useful and useless facts I was given this fun, nostalgic and potentially very useful book for Christmas, and I've enjoyed dipping in and out of it. The mnemonics and aide-memoires in ` I Before E (Except After C)', are divided into thematic sections such as `Animal, Vegetable, Mineral' and `Musical Interlude', and include everything from practical ways of remembering spellings and scientific formulae to old-fashioned rhymes to remind one of delightfully pointless information. The factor that really limits the usefulness of the book as a reference work, is the absence of any sort of index. Let's say, for example, you're after an easy way to remember trigonometry. All you can do to locate the information is to identify the chapter it's likely to be listed in, and flick your way through that until you stumble upon it. Despite this minor frustration, the book is ideal for anyone wishing to find better, or more fun ways of recalling key facts - from fans of trivia to older people struggling with memories less reliable than they used to be. In fact, every household should have one - in the smallest room and on the book shelf. 2008-03-17 30 days hath september, April June and November Only one minor criticism of this book is that it does not have an index. With computers it is very easy to do an index and any serious book should have one. I still use the rhyme for the days of the month the famous Thirty days hath September etc To spell or not to spell taught me that the mnemonic for DIARRHOEA which is a very difficult word to remember and is Dash In a A Real Rush Hurry Or Else Accident. A common mistake because people get confused with the American spelling is licence / license and practice/ practise s is the verb and c is the noun, that's the rule that runs the town. A great little book which deserves a lot of study. It is a must for fans of arcane trivia. There were things in there that I had never heard of such as the taxonomic classification and the Buddhist ten states of mind. A great present for those who think they know it all. They will soon realise they do not. If you take time to memorise the contents of this book you might achieve number ten being Buddha, the state of perfection. 2008-01-15 Memorable Recommended excellent work about remembering data in neat groups I enjoyed reading this book as it was fun to browse through, with catchy memory titbits that stick with you after the book was completed. Also the simple yet fun cartoons add to the over quality of the book. 2008-01-04 Memory, but Imagining is More Great memory aids, but they need imaginative use. Try adding Peter Cave's CAN A ROBOT BE HUMAN? - to make the memory aids worthwhile. While I BEFORE E is great at what it does, using it to think imaginatively about lots of dilemmas adds another dimension. I'd not have thought of this, until I came across both Parkinson's book and Cave's - Parkinson reminds us all of stuff we may have forgotten, but Cave's helps us then to make use of our thinking powers over a whole range of mind-blowing dilemmas and paradoxes, from grammar to rationality to religion. Yes, make use of the past - but to be trite - look also to the imagination and future. 2007-11-20 |
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