Whether you write an occasional professional letter or a daily newspaper column, William Zinsser's On Writing Well should be required reading. Simplicity is Zinsser's mantra: he preaches a stripped-down writing style, strong and clear. He has no patience for excess (most use of adjectives and adverbs, he writes, just adds clutter) or tired phraseology (for instance, he'd like to outlaw all leads involving those "future archaeologists" most often found "stumbl[ing] upon the remains of our civilization"). He recommends that all writers of nonfiction read their work aloud (don't commit something to paper that you wouldn't actually say) and write under the assumption that "the reader knows nothing" (not to be confused with assuming the reader's an idiot). In addition to the chapters on the expected--usage, audience, interviews, leads--Zinsser also focuses on such trouble spots as science and technical writing, business writing, sports, and humor. ... Read more

Isbn: 0062735233
Subjects:  1. Authorship    2. Business Communication - General    3. Composition & Creative Writing - General    4. Composition & Creative Writing - Nonfiction    5. English language    6. Exposition (Rhetoric)    7. Language    8. Language Arts & Disciplines    9. Reference    10. Report writing    11. Rhetoric    12. Writing Skills   

Composition teachers throughout the English-speaking world have been pushing this book on their students since it was first published in 1957.Co-author White later revised it, and it remains the most compact and lucid handbook we have for matters of basic principles of composition, grammar, word usage and misusage, and writing style. ... Read more

Isbn: 020530902X
Subjects:  1. Composition & Creative Writing - General    2. English Composition    3. English language    4. Grammar    5. Language    6. Language Arts & Disciplines    7. Literary style    8. Reference    9. Report writing    10. Rhetoric    11. Style    12. Technical Writing    13. Writing Skills    14. Technology / Technical Writing   

This book is a frank demystification of the writing process that originated as a series of lectures given in 1969 to friends and other potential contributors to Rand's magazine, The Objectivist. "Any person who can speak English grammatically can learn to write nonfiction," Rand declares. All you need "is what you need for life in general: an orderly method of thinking." Rand values clarity above all else in nonfiction writing, and it is her own clearheadedness that makes this book appealing. Within these pages, Rand discusses subject and theme, audience, philosophy, outlines, writing, and editing. She takes swipes at The New Yorker for its "'brilliant' essays that say nothing," and at William Buckley, whose "trademark is to use words he probably spends half his time looking up in the dictionary." She rails against disruptions ("When I was writing Atlas Shrugged, I accepted neither day nor evening appointments, with rare exceptions, for roughly thirteen years"). And she is an exacting taskmaster who demands that you not choose a lesser aspect of a subject than "the deepest one that interests you and that you can do." Finally, says Rand, you must write from a position of complete confidence and omnipotence. "While you are writing," she says, "you must be God's perfect creature (if there were a God)." --Jane Steinberg ... Read more

Isbn: 0452282314
Subjects:  1. Authorship    2. Composition & Creative Writing - Nonfiction    3. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    4. Literary Criticism    5. Reference    6. Semiotics & Theory