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Title: On Writing Well, 25th Anniversary : The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William K. Zinsser ISBN: 0-06-000664-1 Publisher: HarperResource Pub. Date: 18 September, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.53 (78 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: This book is EXCELLENT
Comment: Since I've endeavored to follow my dream over the past three years to write a novel and my memoirs, I've purchased several books on writing. If there's anything that I can't stand, it's to read something that just doesn't hold my attention or is downright boring. And believe me, I've purchased a few books like that too. But (and Zinsser says it's okay to start a sentence with BUT), I caught a post on Writers Net that made mention of William Zinsser's book about writing nonfiction. I don't buy a book now without checking it out first. I'll have to admit that I was quite impressed with the reviews posted for Zinsser's book. I ordered it. I'm still patting myself on the back and wish I'd ordered the book three years ago when I first started writing. The first chapter in the book had me grinning from ear to ear. Thus,the first thing that came to my mind was "the man's got style". By the time I'd finished reading this book, I knew the man had a lot more going for him than just style. Any writing instructor that manages to write a "how to" book, and still make the book an enjoyable read, definitely has my respect. But (I love this) more than being an enjoyable read, it was an informative read. I highlight important information of a instruction book in bright yellow. Zinsser's book looked like a coloring book on the inside after I'd finished reading it. I'll place this book on my desk for quick reference in the future. I recommend it to anyone who is just starting out or has already made it in the literary world. Zinsser gets my vote as one of the very best in giving good writing instructors.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wonderful. Invest two hours and reap untold rewards.
Comment: If writing non-fiction is an important part of your personal or professional life, reading this classic will be a sound investment. I read this book many years ago, when it was in its first edition, and its wisdom has had a profound impact on me. I can think of few experiences that have had such a demonstrably positive influence on my career (I am currently a professor of computer science). I have found Zinsser's sage advice to be applicable to writing technical papers, letters to the PTA, and virtually every other form of non-fiction.
Zinsser patiently instructs his readers on how to write about travel or science, how to conduct an interview, how to craft an effective lead and ending, and even how to get started. Along the way, Zinsser entreats us to omit clutter and cliché, strike out useless adverbs, adjectives, and qualifiers, incorporate active verbs, and strive for correct usage as well as unity of pronoun, tense, and mood. But the overriding messages are clarity, simplicity, and directness. Keep it crisp. Oh, and just like driving a car, always signal your intentions (keep that "but" at the beginning of the sentence).
Two specific pages in Zinsser's book have remained etched in my mind from the moment I took them in almost two decades ago. They comprise the most genuine and revealing demonstration I have ever seen in a book on writing. On those two pages (pages 10 and 11 in the first edition), Zinsser provides a glimpse at the penultimate draft of the very book you are reading, juxtaposed with the corresponding pages in final form; in so doing, Zinsser invites you to critically examine his own writing, while revealing something of his process. This was brilliant. Those few pages (penultimate draft plus final draft) are alone worth the price of the book.
The lessons in this comparison are profound: First, Zinsser himself practices what he professes, but more importantly, even he is prone to inflate sentences with useless verbiage. What Zinsser has beautifully illustrated is how his writing came to be so tight. It did not spring from his mind to paper in the form we see; rather, it was gradually shaped through repeated editing, much of it with the aim of removing unnecessary words. (One could say that he is more like Beethoven, who endlessly rewrote, rather than Mozart, who composed finished works in one stroke.) I immediately adopted this practice and to this day I devote several final editing passes to the removal of useless words. I can think of no other lesson that I have learned in my 22 years of formal education that has been so enduring and consistently useful.
In the past decade I have recommended this book to each of my graduate students, and nearly all of my colleagues; at times I have simply purchased a copy and presented it to them. Of course, such a gesture can be taken the wrong way. It needn't imply that one's writing is in desperate need of repair, but rather that the content is worthy of concise expression. It was in the latter spirit that I shared Zinsser's book with my students and colleagues, and I believe all have gained from it.
Do yourself a life-long favor and read this wonderful book. It won't take long, yet its lessons might forever change the way you write. Your readers will benefit, and you will benefit.
Rating: 1
Summary: Worthless Book
Comment: How Zinsser can call himself a writer is beyond me. This book is filled with hostility, arrogance, and hypocrisy. All of the points Zinsser makes about being an effective writer are contradicted at some point throughout the book, either directly via a comment, or through his own writing style.
'Part-time' writers are trivialized and all forms of writing except that which Zinsser purports to practice are criticized.
This book is nothing more than a blatant attempt at self-aggrandization.
If you're truly interested in being a writer, ignore all of the nonsensical garbage Zinsser writes. Trust me, I've been a newspaper editor for 25 years.
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Title: The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk Jr., E.B. White, Roger Angell ISBN: 020530902X Publisher: Pearson Higher Education Pub. Date: 15 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Writing To Learn by William K. Zinsser ISBN: 0062720406 Publisher: HarperResource Pub. Date: 15 September, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Classic Guide to Better Writing : Step-by-Step Techniques and Exercises to Write Simply, Clearly and Correctly by Rudolf Flesch ISBN: 0062730487 Publisher: HarperResource Pub. Date: 03 July, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Gary Provost, Gray Provost ISBN: 0451627210 Publisher: Mentor Books Pub. Date: October, 1985 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Words Fail Me: What Everyone Who Writes Should Know about Writing by Patricia T. O'Conner ISBN: 0156010879 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 07 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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