Dictionary of Theories

By Jennifer Bothamley

Book Overview

This is a multi-disciplinary reference source which covers 4000 laws, principles and hypotheses from the sciences, linguistics, psychology, sociology, economics, philosophy, history, the arts and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760753199
• ISBN13: 9780760753194
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: BARNES & NOBLE
• Length: 637 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Vast Array of Philosophical Theories throughout History

This is a dynamite book for people with a broad interest of philosophical human thoughts and beliefs.The only drawback is that the last edition was updated in the mid 1980s.So many great economists,musicians,artists,physists,and thinkers have left their imprint on human evolutional values.And their validity is still accepted or doubted today.This book will get you thinking about evident or obscure beliefs and challenge yourself to elucidate upon your own set of beliefs.Some theories are widely accepted,and some are debunked by the progression of time.The cover photo ,i believe,is that of Albert Einstein,circa 1931.When he was visiting Cal Tech,on his first American tour.I love the book because of the eclectic classification, presenting the vast range of credos,that has shaped human history and social civilizations.For the better of worse.

As the Title Implies

This is a short explanation of many theories from a wide range of topics. However, that's all it is. Do not expect a long explanation or perhaps even enough information to come to a scientific understanding. It is just a brief overview of the theories contained. I don't see how this volume could be used for anything too academic or too intellectual, it is just a nice quick source to clarify something mentioned in a book or other media source.

Nirvana for information junkies

Just about any 'ism' you can imagine has a breif description in Bothamley's compendium. It lists ideas from every academic pursuit throughout history and is very readable. The prose is obviously 'encylopedic,' that is, factual by point, point, and point. The entries are also very brief: 'Darwinism' receives as much ink as 'the hole theory of electrons.' Really a nice little book, though, with lots of information.

great leaf-through volume

Jennifer Bothamley has compiled more than 5,000 theories from all disciplines, from times ancient to modern, in this fascinating volume. It's a great book to leaf through; the concise, clear definitions will pique your interest. Some of the theories have been discredited, although all have had influence.Do you need to see technical diagrams or equations? These are included. The book is cross-referenced to make browsing easier.It's a marvelous addition to anyone's library.

Deserving of a paperback edition

This is indeed an admirably broad survey of literally thousands of theories from a wide range of disciplines and traditions. My training and expertise is in the Arts and Humanities, and I was surprised to find such reliability amongst categories spanning from the social sciences to postmodern literary criticism and cultural theory to more traditional philosophical concerns. To address two issues from the previous review: Firstly, I suspect that the lack of attention to the major world religions is a result of this being a dictionary of THEORIES, not beliefs. While there is certainly a component of faith involved in speculation we generally consider more scientific, it seems sensible for such a work to leave out religious doctrine and ideas more mystic and ethereal than systematic and empirically rigorous. Secondly, although I can't speak to the broad appeal or cosmic significance of meterology, it could hardly be more obvious to someone outside the number-crunching lab that feminism is certainly not a "minor sub-field". In fact, I can think of few theoretical orientations with more enormously wide-ranging consequences, both historically and in the present moment, and more vital and relevant for inclusion in any collection of theories.