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| Author: Mardy Grothe
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $10.17
You Save: $4.78 (32%)
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 6189
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 5.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0061358134
Dewey Decimal Number: 808
EAN: 9780061358135
Publication Date: August 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
What Makes Your Language Live August 8, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like: A Comprehensive Compilation of History's Greatest Analogies, Metaphors, and Similes
Tired of political platitudes, a mundane media, and the dense jargon of appliance instructions? Want to read language that lives? Want to borrow colorful quotes for your amorous boudoir, your senior center, or your favorite bar for drinks mixed with insults? Then this is your book. You can sprinkle the sparkle of these quotations through any kind of conversation -- from sports to the theatre, and the realm that touches them both - marriage and the family. You can even double up that annoying individual with a habit of being funnier than you are. There's a chapter for every one of these subjects and aims. There's even one on life itself. The title of that chapter? "Life is the art of drawing without an eraser."
So far, you might conclude that this book is no more than an extremely witty and with-it version of "Bartlett's Quotations." You'd be wrong. This book doesn't just deliver quotations; it examines how they get quotable. The secret, says the author ("Dr. Mardy" to his fans), lies in the metaphor and its cousins (like the simile) that take the prosaic out of the prose.
Dr. Mardy is like a professional magician, passing his tricks on to his chosen successor. He shows what's behind the metaphor and how its stunts are performed. He shows you how best to enjoy the performance. And, when you write, he shows how to creatively wave a wand over words, to make a paying public or a world of family e-mails, your stage (to quote, more or less, one maker of metaphors).
Mardy's Done It Again August 11, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I never met a Mardy Grothe book I didn't like. And "I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like" is certainly no exception. In his Introduction, the author describes himself as "a serious quotation collector," and in this newest of his four books, containing nearly 2,000 analogies, metaphors and similes, he provides indisputable evidence of that fact. He has indeed delivered what he promises in the book's subtitle: "A Comprehensive Compilation of History's Greatest Analogies, Metaphors, and Similes."
However, "I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like" is far more than simply a collection of quotations. In his own highly readable, entertaining and informative style, the author tells often fascinating stories behind many of the entries.
I can't imagine any word lover not wanting this delightful volume in his or her library. But be advised! This is not a book to be devoured in one, two or even in a dozen readings. In what he calls his attempt "to compile some of history's greatest word paintings," Mardy Grothe has succeeded beautifully. To fully admire and appreciate these "paintings" will take time, but it will indeed be time very well spent.
I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like August 19, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
What a terrific Book! I have been a fan of Dr Grothe for a long time and now I have such a great collection of his wisdom and humor. Recommended to anyone who is in speaking, teaching or who wants to be enlighted themselves! I am each of those and find it a great resource. You will too!
Speaking Metaphorically, "I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like" Is a Gem! August 6, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have in my library Dr. Mardy Grothe's previous three books "Never Let a Fool Kiss You, or a Kiss Fool You," "Oxymoronica," and "Viva la Repartee."
After having read once even an extremely well-written novel, most of us do not feel like reading it again. On the other hand, I fairly frequently feel like rereading for a while one of the above three books by Dr. Grothe. It's because the material in them is highly informative and witty. The particular genre of these three books enables me to randomly open any page in one of them and read the material on that page and the next few pages or any other pages. The way human brain's memory part has evolved, after having read these books once, my subsequent readings of them are of course much quicker while the wit and information stored in these treasure chests bring me experience of intellectual joy anew.
Expecting his latest book "I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like" also to be equally informative and delightful, I enthusiastically purchased it. After reading it, the thought occurred to me: "I never met a book by Dr. Grothe I didn't like!"
Reading Dr. Grothe's books is like watching linguistic ballets.
I find that a brief description of the "Metaphor" book is already provided above under "Product Description" on this web page; so I won't repeat it here. I would like to just say the following in closing:
Do you recall the "Try it! You'll like it!" slogan in the TV commercial some years ago for Bayer Corporation's Alka-Seltzer tablets? Well, regarding Dr. Grothe's latest "Metaphor" book, I would like to say: "Buy it. You'll like it!"
C G Jambotkar, Ph.D.
An ounce of Metaphor is worth a Pound of plodding Prose August 22, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
There are certain kinds of books that are simply fun. They do not have any great thesis or argument. They offer the reader a selection of very varied fare and suggest sampling it.
So this collection of Metaphors, Similes, and Analogies. Some will make you smile, some will make you think again.Some you will have to squint a bit to puzzle out.
But it will all be enjoyment.
For me a book like this is of special value. As a writer I am always studying ( which does not mean- learning) how other writers did truly good things. This book is rich in examples. As Henny Youngman might have said " One man's metaphor is another man's corned-beef sandwich."
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