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Word Workout: Building a Muscular Vocabulary in 10 Easy Steps
Word Workout is a practical book for building vocabulary―a graduated program featuring thousands of words that begins with those known by most college graduates and ascends to words known only by the most educated, intelligent, and well-read adults. This workout is a comprehensive program, chock-full of information about synonyms, antonyms, and word origins, and replete with advice on proper usage and pronunciation. There are also creative review quizzes at each step of the way to measure your progress and reinforce learning. Unlike other vocabulary books, Word Workout provides a complete learning experience with clear explanations and surefire methods to retain new knowledge. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, this book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, featuring words used by the top tier of literate Americans, laid out in ten accessible chapters designed for anyone who is looking for some serious verbal exercise.
From "avowal" to "proselytize," from "demagogue" to "mendicant," Charles Harrington Elster has carefully picked the words you need to know, and given you an easy, fast, and fail-safe way to learn and remember them.
From "avowal" to "proselytize," from "demagogue" to "mendicant," Charles Harrington Elster has carefully picked the words you need to know, and given you an easy, fast, and fail-safe way to learn and remember them.
- GenresLanguageNonfiction
512 pages, Paperback
First published December 2, 2014
46 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Charles Harrington Elster
44 books53 followersCharles Harrington Elster is a writer, broadcaster, and logophile—a lover of words.
He is the author and narrator of the audio vocabulary-building program Verbal Advantage and the book by the same name. His other books include Tooth and Nail and Test of Time, vocabulary-building novels for high school students preparing to take the college entrance exams; There's a Word for It, a lighthearted look at unusual—and unusually useful—words; and The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations, which William Safire of The New York Times hailed as "the best survey of the spoken field in years." In 2005 Harcourt published What in the Word? Wordplay, Word Lore, and Answers to Your Peskiest Questions About Language, and in 2006 Houghton Mifflin released the second edition of The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations, featuring nearly 200 new entries.
Charlie was pronunciation editor of the seventh and eighth editions of Black's Law Dictionary and a consultant for Garner's Modern American Usage. He is a guest contributor to the "On Language" column of The New York Times Magazine, and his articles have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and other publications.
Charlie has also been talking about language on the radio since 1985. He has been interviewed on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Weekend Edition, and All Things Considered and been a guest on hundreds of radio shows around the country. For five and a half years he cohosted a weekly public radio talk show on language called A Way with Words.
Charlie was born in New York City in 1957 and earned his B.A. cum laude from Yale in 1981. He lives in San Diego with his wife and two daughters.
He is the author and narrator of the audio vocabulary-building program Verbal Advantage and the book by the same name. His other books include Tooth and Nail and Test of Time, vocabulary-building novels for high school students preparing to take the college entrance exams; There's a Word for It, a lighthearted look at unusual—and unusually useful—words; and The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations, which William Safire of The New York Times hailed as "the best survey of the spoken field in years." In 2005 Harcourt published What in the Word? Wordplay, Word Lore, and Answers to Your Peskiest Questions About Language, and in 2006 Houghton Mifflin released the second edition of The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations, featuring nearly 200 new entries.
Charlie was pronunciation editor of the seventh and eighth editions of Black's Law Dictionary and a consultant for Garner's Modern American Usage. He is a guest contributor to the "On Language" column of The New York Times Magazine, and his articles have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and other publications.
Charlie has also been talking about language on the radio since 1985. He has been interviewed on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Weekend Edition, and All Things Considered and been a guest on hundreds of radio shows around the country. For five and a half years he cohosted a weekly public radio talk show on language called A Way with Words.
Charlie was born in New York City in 1957 and earned his B.A. cum laude from Yale in 1981. He lives in San Diego with his wife and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 6, 2020
‘I am so smart. S-M-R-T.’ H.S.
Recommended. Exercise that grey matter between those ears!
Recommended. Exercise that grey matter between those ears!
May 21, 2017
If there is a six stars category, this book - Word Workout - by Charles Harrington Elster will get that vote from me!
His book is that good and well written for learning and absorbing new words. Definitely worth its weight in Gold.
I have both the kindle and audio version of this title, keeping them close to me in my Kindle & Audible book hoard as my treasured reference companion.
His book is that good and well written for learning and absorbing new words. Definitely worth its weight in Gold.
I have both the kindle and audio version of this title, keeping them close to me in my Kindle & Audible book hoard as my treasured reference companion.
July 4, 2020
I really enjoyed many words and the origins. Unfortunately now I know there's a word for what I want to say but I can't find that word because it's difficult to find words via definitions. :(
October 18, 2023
Great book. No nonsense with a moderate amount of tasteful asides.
July 17, 2020
Reading this book felt like an arduous journey at times, but one with fascinating revelations after every other step. In addition to learning literally hundreds of words that I have never heard before, I was able to learn about the etymologies and correct usage of many words that I thought I knew. Highly recommended to anyone who loves to read and learn about amazing, and sometimes shocking origins of words.
July 9, 2023
I kept this book by my bed for many months and read it a little bit each night. I love new words and the examples and origins of the words discussed were helpful. On a practical level, I find it hard to actually learn more vocabulary words from a book like this. I find the app, Vocab.com, to be incredibly helpful and fun in my quest to build my vocabulary.
February 29, 2016
Well worth it, if you are into reading reference books--which I have always loved to do.
January 22, 2016
It was a good book but I need a more challenging book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews