A nice idea totally wasted ... This dictionary is not pleasant to read, draft, boring and stodgy final. Biographies are much too long and often useless and seem to have their place in this book (as well as the bottom of the page of notes that are sometimes half a page) to better hide the fact that most of the work of the author was only compile. The result is that the quotes of interest (less than 20) are buried under a deluge of nasty little values. It appears that more frustrated. Given the results, the greater evil of this book is its price.