A grab bag of 150+ eponyms and toponyms and their origins, some loosely grouped into categories such as sports and recreation, animals, foods, clothing and fashion; others are lumped together in groups whose organizing principle is obscure (one section includes ``gadget,'' ``artesian,'' ``bungalow,'' ``lobby,'' ``attic,'' ``china,'' ``cheap,'' ``capitol,'' etc.). Unusable as a reference book since there is no index, the volume is hard to read straight through; at the beginning of each entry is an jolting, redundant icon (a globe for a toponym, a portrait for an eponym). Striving mightily to involve readers, the writing is often jejune, with many sentences beginning, ``Did you realize...'' or ``You might be surprised to learn....'' Contrary to standard dictionary practice, proper nouns are not capitalized when used as entry titles, and the etymology and lexicology are shaky in spots: The town of Taranto was not named for the tarantula spider, but vice versa; the word ``dodger'' could hardly have come from Dickens's character ``The Artful Dodger,'' since it was in use at least 250 years earlier; ``gauze'' is universally defined as a thin material, not ``thick'' as stated here. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 8-12)
