Review of "The Little Book of Lost Words" by Joe Gillard

I found "The Little Book of Lost Words" by Joe Gillard while I was visiting the Tenement Museum in New York City. After briefly examining the front and back covers, I decided to buy it thinking it might be fun to have on hand. However, I actually became much more engaged in this book than I anticipated. Essentially, this book gives the definitions of 88 ancient words that may not be used anymore but should be. Because this book is less word-heavy, I will give examples of words that appear and are defined in the book. Each word, listed alphabetically, also come with an image of a piece of artwork that displays the word being defined, its part of speech, its pronunciation, what language it derived from, and when it was created.

This word, famelicose, means to be always hungry. The people to the right are depicted dining with no end to their meal.

This word, fudgel, means "to pretend to work without actually doing anything." Depicted next to it are two people pretending to work but not actually getting anything done. They are fudgelling their way through their day.

This word, ultracrepidarian, means "a person with opinions on subjects beyond their knowledge." The people on the right seem to be having a conversation or argument, but the word implies that the people in the art don't know what they are talking about.

I have only recently discovered how helpful having a broader vocabulary can be. It helps me be more articulate and gives more profound names to ways I am feeling or what I observe about the world. I recommend this book to anyone interested in vocabulary and learning words that they might actually want in their everyday life.