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Summary:
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.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Buy this book
Customer Rating:
Buy this book and read it. Commit parts of it to memory. The biggest challenge a writer has is to take the garbage out of what's been written. This book will show you how to do that. I wish someone had introduced me to this book as an undergraduate.
Reviews here are for a different book!
Customer Rating:
The reviews presented with the Bead Creative Art Quilts were for a book on writing not the 'bead" book. How disappointing!.
A useful read
Customer Rating:
Writing well, according to William Zinsser, is a matter of simplicity & unity. Simple writing is easy to follow and is not wasteful. Unified writing has a single purpose; uses a consistent tense and pronouns; and is a delight to read. Good writing is thus a transaction between the author and reader; it defines the audience and the capacity in which we hope to address them, expressing as simply as possible the point that is being made. Zinsser suggests that we should let our personality show, using 'I' or 'we' when possible. In this way we express our personal style and establish a connection with the reader.
Beginning and endings are important to good writing. A good beginning gives the reader something to connect with, and draws him in to read the rest. Endings can sometimes bore - Zinsser suggests perhaps ending suddenly or with a quirky quotation. Technical or scientific writing provides particular difficulties. One way to practice such writing is to describe a scientific process step by step. We are thus guided not only express our ideas more clearly, but also to think in a more logical and cogent way. We should write well in order to think more clearly.
A useful book with much to recommend it.
Good writing is simple, clear, and free of clutter.
Customer Rating:
Key points in this book are: "Rewriting is the essence of writing." "Clutter is the disease of American writing." "Writing that will endure tends to consist of words that are short and strong." "The most important sentence in any article is the first one." "Most nonfiction writers will do well to cling to the ropes of simplicity and clarity."
But simplicity doesn't mean it is easy. "A clear sentence is no accident," writes Zinsser. "Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time."
Excellent read on how to write well
Customer Rating:
I received this at work from a consultant and for a year, did not open it. Then one day bored on a conference call, I started reading it and did not want to stop. While I took breaks over the course of 2 months to read this (reading 5 books in parallel) I just finished it and must say that it is the BEST book I have read on Writing Well. I am quite self-conscious of what I write now after reading Zinsser's book. I can see his red pen scratching my extra words, cleaning up my run on sentences, and make suggestions. Oh but grammar, spelling, and correctness aside, he touches on so many crucial topics - how to write creatively, how to think about writing, how to approach anything from a humorous essay to a memoir to writing about sports (uhm, the only chapter I skipped :)). He is an excellent writer, and the book is packed with easy-to-grasp passages on how we should behold and use this beautiful language of ours.
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