Gale Virtual Reference Library

Part 1
Scanning the titles available in the Gale Virtual Reference Library was indeed like browsing the shelves in a reference collection. I was intrigued by The New Dictionary of The History of Ideas, published in 2005, so I scanned the table of contents in the 6 volumes. Many intriguing topics there to be explored:
v.1 Abolitionism to Common Sense
v.2 Communication of Ideas to Futurology
v.3 Game Theory to Lysenkoism
v.4 Machiavellism to Phrenology
v.5 Physics to Syncretism
v.6 Taste to Zionism

Because I am also an artist, I was drawn to the Taste article, which I found to be well written, presenting a broad overview of the history of "taste" and how it has evolved over time. The article began by defining terms, differentiating between "taste" as an objective criteria that can be described and "personal taste" which varies and is harder to define.

I think this would be a great source to start with to obtain an overview of a subject or an idea. If you are looking for something concrete like information about a particular disease, this would not be the place to go....but if you are interested in ideas, looks like a fine source to me!

Part 2I am interested in ideas about language and the power that the language that we speak has over the thoughts that we have. Languages have different structure and different ways of articulating ideas, events and objects. I am curious to know how the very structure of our language plays out in the rise of our thoughts and the arena of thinking.

I first began my search with the terms Language and Thinking, which yielded 910 results, many of which came from the volumes I first delved into from The New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. This was actually not much of a surprise. I think I narrowed the number of hits by 50% by adding the term "thought" as another filter. I began again with Linguistics, which also yielded quite a few hits, most of which came from The New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. I did choose one article, that was actually quite brief, titled: "Sun Language Theory", which came from the Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. The article discussed a theory that arose and gained a following in the 1930s, which proposed that Turkish was the mother of languages. I played with the "listen" function and was able to understand clearly the reading of the text. If I were in need of this option, I would certainly appreciate that the words and phrases are highlighted as they were being read. A great feature!

Overall, I found I was really drawn to The New Dictionary of the History of Ideas and may just go back and browse when I have time....ha, not sure when that will be!