On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction [Paperback]
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On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
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On Writing Well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet.
Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you fundamental priciples as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more than a million copies sold, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valuable resource for writers and would-be writers.
- Series: On Writing Well
- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial; 30 Anv Rep edition (May 9, 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060891548
- ISBN-13: 978-0060891541
- Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Books > Textbooks > Reference > Encyclopedias
- #2 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Publishing & Books > Authorship
- #2 in Books > Reference > Encyclopedias & Subject Guides
I usually only write reviews for books I can praise. I actively avoid giving criticism about books that have, as this one does, a large and enthusiastic following. I feel compelled to write now because I think that many will not be as well served as they imagine after reading these reviews.
I think this book is popular for many understandable and, in themselves, good reasons. The writer is up-beat and optimistic. He supplies simple formulas for complex problems. He has both wit and charm. He supplies many funny stories. He makes fun of pompous academics and pedagogues. He is empathetic and warm. His instructions are personal, not distant or abstract. He requires little of the reader and avoids pesky formalities. For all these reasons, one should be attracted to a non-fictional book of reminiscence about writing. However, all these virtues are not those of a book teaching writing.
Indeed, many dislike books that try to teach writing because the majority are rigorous, boring, and impersonal. So, it is no wonder that against those demanding and dry texts this humane presentation appears as an oasis. However, it is a mistake to think that those emotional values make this a good writing text.
This book's relation with writing is much like a movie's relation with its topic: a narrative about a thing more than an instruction. For instance, "Field of Dreams" may make us happy, but it hardly is likely to make us better baseball players. Here most of Zinsser's time is expended in context, quotation of others, and folksy tale. These are topped off with a brief commands - "Go to it" - that have a cheerleader's enthusiasm and lack of content. He celebrates one style, his own, which is short and informal to the exclusion of the hundreds of others that have graced our language.
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