Phil McArdle

Phenomenal book, though I would not have agreed (at first) when assigned word roots from this book on a weekly basis by one of my Professors. As a science major (and now a public school science teacher) I find a grasp of word roots more useful than vocabulary per se. Take anatomy: you could take the rote approach and try to memorize a zillion vocabulary words. But if you know the roots, you need to memorize far less, and understand more. As I tell my kids, just assemble the pieces like Legos. For example, if you know the roots of organs and tissues, and that -itis means inflammation, then carditis, dermatitis, nephritis, hepatitis, otitis, are inflammation of the heart, skin, kidney, liver and ear, respectively.