The Doubter's Companion

The Doubter's Companion
A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense
by
John Ralston Saul

From the dust-jacket:

Who among us does not feel excluded to some degree from civilization? The truth is that most of us do. Could this be owed, at least in part, to our exclusion from our own language? How are we to enter into public debate, to discuss the world at hand, if the concepts that decide our lives are unclear? After all, civilizations can't perform actions that individuals can't first put into words. And individuals can't put into words actions they are unable to percieve.

That is the power of language. And that is why the dictionaries and encyclopedias of the eighteenth century were aggressive arguments, often the forerunners of change. They were attacking the truths of the day by demonstrating that it was possible to think differently about what was already known.

It is in this spirit that John Ralston Saul presents his dictionary. It is not my wish to rip-off the author, but I would like to present a few of the definitions contained therein for your consumption (perhaps one for each letter of the alphabet. I hope you like it; it's kind of like Everything but without the soft links :-).

A
A Big Mac
Autobiography

B
Bees

C
Canada

D
Democracy

E
Élite

F
Fear

G
God

H
Happy Hour

I
Irony

J
Jury

K
Kant, Immanuel

L
Love

M
Machiavelli, Niccolo

N
Natural Death

Well, I guess that's it. I'm a little worried about the everything copyright problem so I'll stop here.
Remember: It's not copyright infringement, it's an homage!