First time in book form! A successful program for teaching 3,500 vocabulary words that successful people need to know, based on America's #1 bestselling audio vocabulary series.

"People judge you by the words you use." Millions of Americans know this phrase from radio and print advertising for the Verbal Advantage audio series, which has sold over 100,000 copies. Now this bestselling information is available for the first time in book form, in an easy-to-follow, graduated vocabulary building program that teaches an outstanding vocabulary in just ten steps.

Unlike other vocabulary books, Verbal Advantage provides a complete learning experience, with clear explanations of meanings, word histories, usages, pronunciation, and more. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, the book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, teaching a vocabulary shared by only the top percentage of Americans, with a proven method that helps the knowledge last.

A 10-step vocabulary program teaches 500 key words and 3,000 synonyms.

Lively, accessible writing from an expert author and radio personality.  

Based on Charles Elster's bestselling audio vocabulary building program, which has sold over 100,000 copies to date (around 20,000 sets per year) through direct sales only, Verbal Advantage offers a unique, graduated program of vocabulary improvement across ten levels of increasing difficulty. There are vocabulary tests at the beginning and end of the book, plus quizzes throughout each of the levels, covering 3500 vocabulary words. More than just a set of roots, prefixes, suffixes, and terms to memorize, Verbal Advantage puts vocabulary learning in the wider context of usage, and delivers comprehensive information through quotations, anecdotes, humorous asides, and more.

Charles Elster is the author of several books on language, and is the writer and host of the weekly public radio program "A Word to the Wise." His commercials have been featured on NPR's "Morning Edition".