From Archetype to Zeitgeist: Powerful Ideas for Powerful Thinking

by Herbert R. Kohl and Erica Kohl

Book Overview

This is a compendium of intriguing and important words and concepts essential to an understanding of the language of ideas. Organized by topic, each word is explained in a comprehensive yet concise definition, with a pronunciation guide and derivation added for easy reference. The book includes definitions of more than 150 words, from baroque to expressionism, iconography to pointillism, and archetype to zeitgeist.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316501387
• ISBN13: 9780316501385
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.6" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The ABC's of "Intellectual (Speak) (Think?)"

A virtual dictionary of the terms, theories, concepts and "tricks-of-the-trade" of the "post-Modern thinkers:" Artists, Art and literary critics and philosophers. Answers all of the questions you ever wanted to pose to them but were afraid to ask -- and does so in alphabetical order. An indispensable and handy reference guide to those like me who can never remember the difference between "moderism" and "post-moderism, or between "essentialism" and "epiphenomenalism," etc. None of the entries are more than a couple of paragraphs long but are stripped of all but what is essential to understand the "meat' of the ideas and concepts. Like my American Express card, I won't leave home without it. Five Stars

A Very Special Wordbook

I highly recommend this unusual resource. Kohl compiled these short essays to help his college students build necessary vocabulary in particular study areas, and each chapter deals with a different discipline. His theory was that ordinary dictionary definitions don't give enough "meat" to allow someone unfamiliar with a technical term to really learn to use it. So he not only defines the words, he gives them a context, and sets the whole into a deeper context of a field of study. Thus, the literature chapter introduces "deconstructionism," "incunabula" and "magic realism," as well as "hyperbole," "irony," "simile" and so forth. The arts, the sciences, the social sciences, logic and religion are among the areas he covers. Really useful for a college-level student, or anyone learning about a new discipline.