best english vocabulary book you read?

An English newspaper! You gain great vocabulary from reading a newspaper -
highlight all words you don't understand and then look them up in your dictionary. It helped me quite a bit when learning English.

I agree with CJ. The newspaper changes every day and it places words in context, a much more valuable way of learning the meanings of words than trying to go down any list.
Any word you don't know, you look up in the dictionary and then, if my father were around, you would have to stand up and, speaking out loud, put your new word in a sentence.

Joe(I still do that occasionally.)Nation

I taught myself to read the French language, and only much later learned to speak it properly. I found that reading plays helps more than any other kind of reading. Plays are almost entirely dialogue, and they show you how people actually speak the language, as opposed to just providing you lots of words which will certainly be in the English vocabulary, but not necessarily commonly used. Knowing what crepuscular means won't help you much if other people give you a blank look when you use it.

You might look for plays by Neil Simon, an American playwright who has written more than 30 plays, many of which have been very successful, and which have been made into motion pictures. You might read a play--such as The Odd Couple or Barefoot in the Park, and then see the motion picture to get a feel for how the language is spoken.

Here, i'll go get you a link.

Click here to see a list of Neil Simon's plays.

I have never found any one book to be "most" useful.

I think that it's best to read newspapers and magazines - always accompanied by a dictionary. I've still got a journal I kept through university - with new words I was discovering - with their definitions written down. I tried to use the words as soon as possible after discovery.

I also found listening to the radio to be very helpful to understand how words were actually used - not just the dictionary definitions.

thanks everybody.
I got the answer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

I still endorse this site for anyone learning English. Listen, read, learn.

This is the best book for 2nd language learners to learn vocabulary, A110, bar none.

Longman Language Activator

http://www.pearson.ch/LanguageTeaching/Dictionaries/Dictionaries-British/1449/9780582415485/Longman-Language-Activator-Second.aspx

Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Longman+Language+Activator&x=19&y=16

This question is made for non [e] native speakers of English that are learning English as a second language.

What's the best vocabulary book that you have already read?
A book for memorizing new advanced words in a short time?

(If you find any grammatical mistakes in my writing please tell me!)

[mistake is okay but mistakes would be more natural/common]


Longman Language Activator - Second Edition
Upper Intermediate - Proficiency
From 'excellent' to 'superb'! This new edition of THE writing dictionary expands students' vocabulary effectively, and helps them express their ideas more accurately

This dictionary takes you from a key word or basic idea, such as 'good', and shows you more related words or phrases with information on register, context and grammar structures.
Detailed definitions help students choose the correct word and natural, corpus-based examples show words in typical usage
Improved access system makes it easy to find the word you need
All the collocations and phrases you need to write correctly
Index at the back of the book for easy cross-referencing
Clear key words help to find alternatives
Concepts are grouped
Simple definitions an examples help to find the right word

Do your students say "very happy" when they could say "ecstatic"? Do they say "walk with big steps" when they could say "stride"? The Longman Language Activator, the world's first production dictionary and major development in dictionary publishing, takes students from a key word or basic idea, e.g. EAT, through the exact words and phrases they need to express themselves accurately and appropriately for each context, e.g. wolf down, or be a picky eater.
This dictionary is also great for preparing for examinations like the Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English
Helps students and teachers expand vocabulary and increase proficiency
Covers spoken and written english Real-life examples show words in context

Imagine you