LOL from A to Z

The VocabuLOLary Series, Book 1

By: Amanda Terman

Narrated by: Amanda Terman

Length: 42 mins

Publisher's summary

If you're the type of person who likes memorizing dry dictionary definitions, find a different book! 

But if you want to laugh while you learn new words, LOL from A to Z will show you how. Featuring entertaining examples you'll easily remember, the first installment of The Vocab Book Series presents simple definitions of 26 advanced vocabulary words ranging from "abasement" to "zeal", with a little "morass" in between. 

Whether you're a college student who needs to take your graduate school admissions exam, or a professional who enjoys reading the newspaper on the daily commuter train, this book will teach you the words you need to know! 

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. 

©2017 Amanda Terman (P)2017 Amanda Terman

Critic reviews

"I can’t help but think, 'Where was Amanda Terman with LOL from A to Z when I was taking the GRE a few years ago?' This 38-minute audiobook could have saved me from boring nights studying dry vocabulary lists. Terman clearly knows her stuff." (TheAudiobookworm.com)

"This little audiobook is a treasure!" (AudioAudits.com)

vocabulary made easy..

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to exspand their vocabulary. This is a enjoyable book that makes everything you learn easy to retain.
The narration was up beat and fun as well.
I was given this book by the author in exchange for my honest review.

LOL yep entertaining, yet informative!

great words, great way to learn new words! yet, funny at the same time. Not a dull moment. all learning should be this way.

I would buy more from this author.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Fun!

Any additional comments?

An excellent way to learn vocabulary! Funny and well written. Very enjoyable.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audio book by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Entertaining from A to Z

4★ Audiobook⎮ Are you the kind of person who has a “word of the day” calendar? If so, I can almost guarantee that you will love LOL from A to Z. Even though I don’t have a “word of the day” calendar, I still love learning. I spend hours upon hours watching Ted Talks and listening to lectures from The Great Courses. And I’m just “nerdy” enough for LOL from A to Z to be a perfect fit for me.

I can’t help but think “Where was Amanda Terman with LOL from A to Z when I was taking the GRE a few years ago?”. This 38 minute audiobook could have saved me from boring nights studying dry vocabulary lists. Terman clearly knows her stuff. Having a psychology degree and experience with professional exam preparation, she employs the most effective methods of studying and memorization.

LOL from A to Z isn’t a cut and dry vocabulary list. Terman uses humorous examples, repetition and recall to cement definitions and usages in the mind of the listener. Most impressively, she offers to study tips at the beginning and end of the book. Learning vocabulary isn’t just about knowing a word and its meaning, but also becoming comfortable using it.

There were some words I was already familiar with, such as verdent (green), ribauld (vulgar), zeal (enthusiasm), and sanguine (happy). But out of the list of 26 vocabulary words, the ones that stick out most in my mind are the new acquisitions. I can’t deny the effectiveness of Terman’s use of humor. Her seemingly ridiculous examples will certainly be hard to shake and I’m guessing that’s by design.

However, LOL from A to Z highlights a minor flaw in audiobook listening. We are presented with a word, a definition, and an example, but no spelling. When it comes to pronunciation, audiobook listeners have a leg up on traditional readers. But traditional readers have the advantage when it comes to written spellings. While I don’t have a solution for the traditional reading format, I can offer this suggestion for upcoming installments of The Vocab Book Series (of which I hope there are many): Having a vocabulary word audibly spelled out would help to further cement the vocabulary item into the mind of the listener and could increase the comfort level of someone wishing to use it in written form.

Narration review: Amanda Terman herself narrated this audiobook. Her articulation and clear pronunciation of each vocabulary word greatly enhanced my understanding. Her comedic timing also added to the overall humor and wit, something I’m not sure could have been communicated as well in written form. In that sense, Terman’s narration was especially valuable to LOL from A to Z. ♣︎

➜ This audiobook was graciously gifted to me by its author/narrator, Amanda Terman, in exchange for a review containing my honest thoughts and opinions. Thanks, Amanda!

A Pretty Neat Little Audiobook

I enjoyed the way the author did this book. I love words and learning so this was a good tool to use. The word morass was hilarious. This was definitely an LOL from A-Z. Amanda Terman gives examples of words in a funny way then quizes you on them. Next you apply them to yourself. LOL I hope she does more books like this one and longer as well. This went by fast as it was engaging. More please.

I liked that she narrated her own book. It was at a length in which I think it worked very well. For around a half hour, this was a blast.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

Fun way to learn new vocabulary words.

What made the experience of listening to LOL from A to Z the most enjoyable?

Each vocabulary word has a fun, outrageous sentence to help you remember the vocabulary word and its meaning. I loved how the author creatively chose words that sounded like the vocabulary word (as in "truculent trucker"). I also enjoyed the "as a matter of fact" narration delivery, which made the outrageous sentences even funnier.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I enjoyed the character voices, however, I enjoyed the main narrator voice best. The straight-forward delivery of these crazy sentences made me LOL.

Which character – as performed by Amanda Terman – was your favorite?

There were many engaging voices. Perhaps the mom in the "pusillanimous" sentence.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

LOL from A to Z (what can I say, the title is catchy!)

Very brief, but surprisingly good

Very brief, but surprisingly good. The elements of humor were a little on the snarky side (that's fine). 90% of the material seemed like a solid 3-star audiobook, but in the end, the method to the madness is explained and it all gels. Well done.

The author reads her own work and did a fine job.

***Full Disclosure: I received this book for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review

LOL Fun For Word Nerds Like Me!

These are wonderful books both written and performed by Ms. Terman who does a terrific job! What a great way to build your vocabulary. I really enjoyed listening to LOL and LMAO! Bonus points for the Breaking Bad reference ;)

Fun Learning Vocabulary

This little audiobook is a treasure! It’s a vocabulary test for adults and it’s fun! Let me elucidate, Amanda Terman takes rarely used words and puts them into funny and enjoyable little snippets that make you remember the words and how to use them in a sentence.

As someone who likes to use highfalutin words, this audiobook is right up my alley. If some of the words in this review throw you for a loop, don’t be pusillanimous, Buy the book, look them up in the dictionary... Or you could wait for Amanda Terman’s follow-up book!

This audiobook was received in exchange for an unbiased review!

A funny and effective way of learning new words

I received a free copy of this book in audio format from the author and narrator in exchange for an honest review.

This book presents twenty six unusual words with the intention of increasing our vocabulary. The word is mentioned at the beginning of each chapter, followed by a short definition and a short story, usually humorous, in which we are shown how the word is used. At the end of the chapter the word is repeated again to help remembering.

In my love for language learning new words is one of my favorite things. This book succeeds in this task without being boring. The fact that Terman uses funny short stories in which the word is used really helps to remember and a very important fact, how to use it. Sometimes just a definition is not enough, and we need to see the word in a certain context.

At the end of a group of words there is a quiz, which helps to consolidate the knowledge.

There was something that I found strange. The definition given for ‘pusillanimous’ was ‘cowardly’. Anytime we give a synonym of a word, the word class should be the same. ‘Pusillanimous’ is an adjective, so its definition should be ‘coward’. ‘Cowardly’ would be a synonym for ‘pusillanimously’.

Even though I found the book great I missed the spelling of these words. This is something that could be found in the kindle version, which in turn will miss the pronunciation. I think just spelling the word on the audio version would have been of great help.

Amanda Terman did a great job at narrating this book and give the right inflections to the definitions and stories. I noticed some mouth noises at some point, but barely audible. ‘Lol from A to Z’ has been more enjoyable thanks to her narration.

If you enjoyed this book, you can read more about it, and find more unusual words together with some funny pics, on thevocabblog dot com.