The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk Jr., E. B. White
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Book Reviews of The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
Book Review: Don't Leave Home Without It
Summary: 5 Stars
My late father was a writer-journalist, and I wanted desperately to follow in his footsteps. He bought me "The Elements of Style," and told me that, along with a typewriter (this was the Dark Ages), it was all I would ever need.He couldn't have known about the typewriter, but he was completely right about Strunk & White's timeless classic. As a professional editor of long standing, it is one of my jobs to hire and train beginning writers and editors. It never ceases to appall me that bright young kids right out of some of the finest colleges have no sense of the written word--no sense of the most elemental grammar (one young hiree told me that my insistence on commas to set off dependent clauses was hopelessly old-fashioned; "commas are out of style and are no longer used," he said).
I recommend "The Elements of Style" to these budding editors, and it never fails to help them. I also am not above dipping into it myself--OFTEN. It is probably the simplest, most elegant book on grammar and usage ever written, and it is as important today as it ever was, probably more so. I consider it a tool of the trade, and recommend it to anybody who uses language on a daily basis. And that's just about everybody!
Book Review: Still the Best
Summary: 5 Stars
Twenty-one years ago, a professor in one of my English Lit. classes brought out a book that was NOT one of those texts that you thought you were going to have to take along into the next life in order to finish it. The book was quite the opposite. It was a small 78 page publication that was no more intimidating than a comic book. I was a student that needed help in my punctuation, word usage, and style. I hoped, as did all the students, that the day would come when we would be published. The professor said, "If you're ever going to make it in the writing field, this book will be your best guide. Stick to the principles mentioned in its pages and you will achieve your goals. That is, assuming you have any writing ability in you at all."
Currently, I am taking a refresher course through a correspondence school back East. Guess what book is part of their curriculum? You're right, it's The Elements of Style. This time I have given the book a strict credence, and in the next few months I will have my first publishing credit.
I believe, The Elements of Style, is still the best book on correct writing techniques there is on the market. It was so tweny-one years ago and it will be so twenty-one years from now.
M.D. Cummings
Book Review: Still the Best
Summary: 5 Stars
Twenty-one years ago, a professor in one of my English Lit. classes brought out a book that was NOT one of those texts that you thought you were going to have to take along into the next life in order to finish it. The book was quite the opposite. It was a small 78 page publication that was no more intimidating than a comic book. I was a student that needed help in my punctuation, word usage, and style. I hoped, as did all the students, that the day would come when we would be published. The professor said, "If you're ever going to make it in the writing field, this book will be your best guide. Stick to the principles mentioned in its pages and you will achieve your goals. That is, assuming you have any writing ability in you at all."
Currently, I am taking a refresher course through a correspondence school back East. Guess what book is part of their curriculum? You're right, it's The Elements of Style. This time I have given the book a strict credence, and in the next few months I will have my first publishing credit.
I believe, The Elements of Style, is still the best book on correct writing techniques there is on the market. It was so tweny-one years ago and it will be so twenty-one years from now.
M.D. Cummings
Book Review: A terrific book that will make your life hell
Summary: 5 Stars
This book has been an invaluable tool to me for years. It has helped my writing become more precise and clearer, and has helped to be mindful of many important things I had never even thought of. A good writer will take the time to learn the rules of his trade, if for no other reason that to see which ones he needs, and this is a great place to start learning those rules.
This book is by no means a complete resource, but it is the perfect starting place for anyone wishing to sharpen his or her prose, and you will find yourself going back to it again and again, even after you've read countless other manuals and built for years on this little book's foundation.
This book will teach you, shape you, and guide you, and it may turn you into an obnoxious person that no one will like. The punctuation of roadside signs will drive you batty, and you will find yourself correcting them out loud, to whoever will listen. Your parents' grammar will make you resent them. Your wife will earn your disdain for her reckless, sloppy use of "further" and "farther." Your friends will abandon you for the nerd you are, and only Strunk and White will remain to comfort you.
But then...who needs anyone else?
Book Review: Write forcefully.
Summary: 5 Stars
If you write, you need this book.
This is the most highly concentrated package of common sense and clear exposition I have ever seen. Twenty two brief rules, each with examples and explanation, state the basics of clear and unaffected writing. The authors acknowledge that rules can be broken, but warn you against breaking them casually or frequently. These rules are for your reader's benefit, to organize your ideas so the reader can grasp them quickly and, more important, correctly. The authors also make it easy to read and reread these rules - they are compactly presented in just 33 pages.
The last chapter adds another 21 rules on style. This section may baffle or offend someone just starting in creative writing. Young artists in all media seem determined to create their style, before they find much of anything to say. Wrong! Forcing "style" is like forcing a seedling to grow by tugging on its leaves. Style, like a seedling, will grow in its own way and in its own time.
BTW, I declined Mr. Strunk's advice on the word "forceful." I still get the full benefit of this book, even if I don't accept everything it says.
//wiredweird