The Illustrated Oxford Dictionary defines common sense as “sound practical sense, especially in everyday matters.” Wikipedia defines it as “knowledge, judgment, and taste which is more or less universal, and which is held more or less without reflection or argument.” In modern English, it defines “plain, self-evident truths or conventional wisdom that one needed no sophistication to grasp and no proof to accept precisely because they accorded so well with the basic (common sense) intellectual capacities and experiences of the whole social body.” In his 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, author Thomas Paine used common sense as a tool in his argument in favor of the American colonies’ independence from the British Empire.

Zionism is a nationalist movement that supports the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the Biblical Land of Israel.

In “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” the classic children’s book by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, the nasty Grinch, whose heart is “two sizes too small,” tries to stop Christmas in Whoville.

In 1978, shortly after I began my “Book Nook” column of book reviews, I conducted an unscientific poll in which I asked readers and passing acquaintances what their favorite book was.