A major event in Russian lexicography! ASRED contains important words and expressions not found in either of the two dictionaries most often used: A. Smirnitsky's Russian-English Dictionary and M. Wheeler's The Oxford Russian-English Dictionary. It is primarily designed as a companion and supplement to these, also it may, of course, be used independently. It is in no way intended to replace these dictionaries or to compete with them. It should be added that those not familiar with these two dictionaries will not be disadvantaged in using ASRED. The dictionary contains about 29,000 entries and 350,000 words in all.

It is obvious that dictionaries need supplements from time to time, and Professor Marder has worked to fill the gap between what has been recorded thus far and what it is possible to record. In particular, ASRED records materials from subjects and events which have come to prominence in recent years, such as recent extraordinary political events, technological developments, terrorism on a global scale, concerns about the conservation of natural resources, the spread of AIDS, and computers. ASRED also pays particular attention to the spoken word, as is amply illustrated by the many thousands of words and expressions which bear stylistic labels denoting more relaxed forms of speech: colloquial, vernacular, vulgar, taboo, and slang.

ASRED contains copious examples of authentic illustrations of usage. These take the form of short phrases or mini-dialogues which serve to highlight lexical definitions. Extensive use is made of cross-referencing. As a guiding principle, ASRED does not duplicate information actually contained in Smirnitsky or Wheeler, except in a some instances where significant additional information could be added. Abbreviations and acronyms have been incorporated into the dictionary proper rather than listed as an appendix.

There has been a conscious effort to avoid exotic, highly technical terminology which would be of little interest to the majority of users. A large number of semitechnical terms are cited, however, since they are so common in everyday use. The user can expect to find the Russian equivalents of common computer terms, such as `word processor', `floppy disk', `disk drive', `microcomputer', `backup', etc.

ASRED contains slang and other non-standard, non-literary usage, but is is not a dictionary of slang or obscenities. No particular category of words has been specifically excluded, and thus the dictionary contains a small amount of obscenities and racial slurs, as well as terms relating to drug trafficking and other illegal activities. Such terms are included for the sake of completeness, since, whether we like it or not they are part of the word-stock of the language.

The dictionary shows primary stress in all polysyllabic words, and it indicates pronunciation where this is not inferrable from the orthography by the usual rules of pronunciation (this is primarily in the case of foreign borrowings into Russian, which may have such features as a hard consonant before /e/ or /i/.

Marder's dictionary will be a vital and constant reference for all persons who work with contemporary Russian, whether spoken or written. Get your copy now!

"Highly recommended for academic and special libraries and for translators." (Choice)

"ASRED is to be welcomed as a significant contribution to the lexicographic description of Russian. ... Everyone who works on Russian seriously will find ASRED useful." (SEEJ)

"...you can't put it down. It's a browser's paradise and for a learner or student of Russian at any level, perhaps even for a native-speaker, it should be an uncommonly useful reference. (RLJ)