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Here are Dr. Goodword's book choices on language from his own library. All were selected because, amusing or educative, they are entertaining from cover to cover. You have Dr. Goodword's word on it.

Reading the OED
One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages
by Ammon Shea
$21.95

"I'm reading the OED so you don't have to. If you are interested in vocabulary that is both spectacularly useful and beautifully useless, read on...." So reports Ammon Shea, the tireless, word-obsessed, and more than slightly masochistic author of Reading the OED. The word lover's Mount Everest, the OED has enthralled logophiles since its initial publication 80 years ago. Weighing in at 137 pounds, it is the dictionary to end all dictionaries.

In 26 chapters filled with sharp wit, sheer delight, and a documentarian's keen eye, Shea shares his year inside the OED, delivering a hair-pulling, eye-crossing account of reading every word, and revealing the most obscure, hilarious, and wonderful gems he discovers along the way.

"To enthusiast Shea, the 137 pounds is as nothing, the tiny print is no impediment, and getting through the nearly 22,000 pages is just a labor of love. Working on the idea that you always imitate the source of your inspiration and power, Shea plowed through all said pages and managed to do so in one year and arranged some of his chief findings in alphabetical order, from whence we come to learn such terms as "father-better" and "twi-thought." Much better than a word-a-day approach, and containing infinitely more clever ideas and usage, Shea's treatment features a wry approach to his love of the language and what appears to be a staggering amount, literally, of caffeine." —Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Here is the only general English dictionary you will need for the foreseeable future. If the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary is the mother of all dictionaries, the Shorter is its most accomplished offspring. At one-tenth the size of OED—and a fraction of the price—the Shorter offers just the words since 1700 with the quality of lexical excellence of its parent dictionary. Indeed, no other dictionary, apart from the OED itself, comes close to the Shorter's range and depth, offering over 500,000 definitions that cover virtually every word or phrase in use in world-wide English

Each entry offers everything you would expect from a leading unabridged dictionary: it identifies each word's various meanings, origins, part of speech, pronunciation, and combinations in which the word is often found, as well as cross-references to related words. The Shorter, however, offers something that no competitor can match: the historical, literary approach made justly famous by the OED. Thousand upon thousands of changing meanings are followed throughout their history, illustrated by 85,000 quotations from 7,000 authors.

The sixth edition of the SOED has opened its pages to the thousands of new words which have come into use since the previous edition and which have expanded the precision and expressive power of English. Here are such new words as Afrobeat, carbon-neutral, darknet, heaviosity, impactful, knuckle-dragger, nanomaterial, retro-futurist, smoosh, testosteronic, webinar, and thousands more. (To call someone a testosteronic, retro-futurist knuckle-dragger is no longer an incomprehensible insult). Click here for more information or to buy.

The First Word is the compelling story of the quest for the origins of human language. It is based on a comprehensive study of the scientific research in several fields, including linguistics, anthropology, archology, and genetics but is written in an almost conversational style that is easy for the scientifically uninitiated to read. The book follows two intertwined narratives. The first is an account of how language developed: how the random and layered processes of evolution wound together to produce a talking animal—us. The second addresses why scientists are at last able to explore the subject. For more than a hundred years, language evolution was considered a scientific taboo. Kenneally focuses on figures like Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker, along with cognitive scientists, biologists, geneticists, and animal researchers, in order to answer the fundamental question: Is language a uniquely human phenomenon?

The first edition of Paul Dickson's SLANG was selected by William Safire of The New York Times as one of the best language books of the year. Completely updated with more than twice as many entries, this latest volume encompasses the whole colorful range of current American speech, not just slang. Divided into twenty-nine categories, these are the words that make American English as expressive as it is fascinating. Dickson has unearthed thousands of pithy expressions for the common denominators of American life, including "wrong side of the curtain" (tourist or economy class on an airline), "roboanchor" (a TV anchor who reads but does not understand. Don't expect a scientific definition of slang in this book but do expect to enjoy a compendious collection of recently concocted expressions form aviation, the media, sports, and real estate among others that will keep you exclaiming, "A-ha!", "That's rigth!", "Well, I'll be . . . !"

Did you know that cats are related etymologically to caterpillars? Or that Thomas Edison played a key role in popularizing the use of the greeting "Hello"? Or that muscles were originally mice, since a flexed biceps looks like a little rodent scurrying under the skin? Word Histories and Mysteries provides a panoramic view of the unique richness of English, uncovering the origins of five hundred everyday words whose surprising and often amusing stories offer insights into the history of humankind. Arranged in convenient alphabetical order, the notes are written in a lively and entertaining style perfect for browsing. Of course, as you might expect of a dictionary written by a company rather than a person, the style is straightforward (not very funny) though very readable. The etymologies go back only to Latin and Greek.

This book presents a unique historical view of American English. It chronicles year by year the contributions Americans have made to the vocabulary of English and the words Americans have embraced through the evolution of the nation. For important years from the settlement of Jamestown until 1750, and for every year from 1750 through 1998, a prominent word is analyzed and discussed in its historical context. The result is a fascinating survey of American linguistic culture through past centuries. The authors—both lifelong students of American English—bring great depth of understanding to these key words that have made America, and American English, what they are today.

Delve into the intriguing world of etymologies with The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories. The curious origins of words, from "jabberwocky" to "OK", come alive in hundreds of informative articles written in a witty, conversational style that invites hours of browsing. This edition has been brought fairly up-to-date with such entries as googol and yuppy. It is written in a lively and humorous fashion that makes it eminently readable, which makes it a "book" rather than a "dictionary". With so many fascinating stories about our living, growing language, the New Book of Word Histories is an armchair adventure for word lovers.

The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories describes the origins and sense development of 12,000 words in the English language. Well-known idioms such as "say it with flowers" are highlighted with the dates of their original use and how and when they came about. Colorful popular beliefs are explored about the origins of words like posh and snob, and insights are given into our social history revealed by language development such as the connection in a Roman soldier's mind of salary with salt. Throughout, boxed word-building elements show the various meanings of shared relationships between word. This dictionary contains entries from the Oxford English Dictionary that have been edited for readability and focused on etymologies (definitions are not provided). It is a reference work better consulted for informatino about words than leisurely reading.

There are no direct records of the original Indo-European speech. By comparing the vocabularies of its various descendants, however, it is possible to reconstruct the basic Indo-European roots with considerable confidence. In The Origins of English Words, Shipley catalogues these proposed roots and follows the often devious, always fascinating, process by which some of their offshoots have grown. Anecdotal, eclectic, and always enthusiastic, The Origins of English Words is a diverting expedition beyond linguistics into literature, history, folklore, anthropology, philosophy, and science.

This book is by the author of the calendar, The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said, in print since 1995. Dr. Goodword likes this book because most of the bloopers in it rest on mangled language. Look up Religion, and discover Paris Hilton's take on the Kaballah: "[It] helps you confront your fears. Like, if a girl borrowed my clothes and never gave them back and I saw her wearing them months later, I would confront her." Under Anatomy you will find sportscaster Jerry Coleman saying, "Winfield goes back to the wall. He hits his head on the wall and it rolls off! It's rolling all the way back to second base!" Even Senator Alan Simpson is quoted as saying, "There are a lot of things that we do that are irrelevant, but that's what the Senate is for." If you think President Bush is the only one who mangles English, read this book and think again.