Word of the Day: Microtome

This is one of those elegant Hellenic neologisms. It comes from Greek mikro- meaning 'small' and -tomein meaning 'to slice or divide'. It's the same root as in 'atom', which means 'an indivisible thing'.

A microtome, then is a thing that slices fine. In biology, it's a device that makes thin slices of a sample so that they can be used in microscopy (heh, another one of those Greek words) or other peculiar biological analar processes.

But I like using the word 'microtome' to mean 'book reviews'; that is, 'small tomes' – books reduced to manageable size for people with no time to read or who want a summary so they can decide on what to read. And here again, I refer you to www.microtome.blogspot.com, which is where I keep the monthly reading list.

It doesn't show everything I read, but it does provide some of the highlights. And more so soon, I suspect, as I settle in to being a flatbound invalid for a while.