In this unconventional, easy-to-use thesaurus, Heehler, a degree student at the Harvard Extension School, invites the reader to speak like an academic without sounding like one. (Book News )

Winston Churchill, in the words of one of his contemporaries, “mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.” Like many of the great orators and writers of our time, the prime minister knew the words he used and how he used them were at least as important as the ideas he needed to get across.In 2006, the same idea occurred to an American truck driver.
—the Winnipeg Free Press

We may be familiar with a familiar thesaurus, most prominently Roget’s International Thesaurus. Tom Heehler has, however, created and brought to life a thesaurus for spoken English.  One word came to me after I had made my first visit to its 392 pages:  Wow!The Well-Spoken Thesaurus is a fascinating and provocative resource for lecturers or speakers of the English language of all sizes, ages, and social classes. I vow neither to lend nor sell the copy that came to me a few days ago.  It is simply too convenient, too daring, too lively, invaluable. One wonders,  “Why didn’t someone think of such a resource as this a long time ago?”
— Raymond Rundus, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke

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