If the answer to either of these questions is yes, then The Describer's Dictionary is exactly the book you need. Open it, and you have not only just the right words but-bringing them to life-stellar literary examples of descriptive writing as well.

The Dictionary concern itself with the observable, from shapes to buildings to human beings. Referably organized, the book uses a handy reverse, definition-to-term format that makes it easy to zero in on the term you're seeking. For example, look up Noses to find aquiline, leptorrhine, and snub-nosed. And as an inspiration to any writer-showing how it's done by the best-hundreds of colorful and evocative descriptive passages from such diverse authors as Dickens, Darwin, and Updike appear on facing pages, making this a singularly and richly different kind of reference book.

The craft of description lives in literature, conversation, journalism, and personal letters. For help in painting pictures with the English language, The Desciber's Dictionary is one of the most indispensable reference tools you can own.