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Summary: A handy reference guide for your desktop...
Review: Quickly approaching its hundred-year anniversary, "The Elements of Style" - a pocket reference guide created by Cornell professor William Strunk as an aide for his students is today as relevant and helpful as ever. The introduction by E.B. White is worth the price of the book by itself, but when his immense talents are combined with his professor's, the world ends up with a valuable tool."The Elements of Style" contains everything a practitioner of the English language would need. The book starts with "Elementary Rules of Usage" which references the proper rules for possessives, parenthetic expressions, colons, dashes, etc. The book then moves on to "Elementary Principles of Composition", advising writers to use the active voice, choose a suitable design and hold to it, and among other things - omit needless words! That last tidbit of advice can't not ever in a million years be written enough times for people to read it and understand, you know? The remainder of "Elements of Style" focuses on form, commonly misused words and expressions, and the writer's individual approach to style. This last part takes on the role of a coach for the writer - simply reminding him of the various do's and don't that make writing clear and concise. Overall, this is a helpful book and a handy reference for one's desktop. If you find yourself constantly wondering if "who" or "whom" should be used, then this is the book for you... Get yourself a copy! Britt Gillette
Author of "Conquest of Paradise: An End-Times Nano-Thriller"
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Summary: Start here ... or at least visit
Review: This is NOT a grammar, it's about style. You won't find ANY inane lifeless nonsense rules like "don't split infinitives" (a red herring itself). That said, I suppose another flattering review is superfluous -- Strunk would disapprove -- but this book's rating is a half star below five! I have been writing in one capacity or another my entire life and cannot think of a single volume as fundamentally influential as Strunk. I have had a copy since high school, though I couldn't tell you where it is now; not that it matters, I've committed it to heart. By providing the table of contents, Amazon[.com] has essentially given you the book save its illustrative examples -- that's how tight it is, and yes the examples are worth having. Perhaps the somewhat militant author could have slipped "please" in here or there, but that would violate rule 13, "Omit needless words." Strunk doesn't want you to write better to please him, he saying if you're serious about your work you'll allow your assumptions to be challenged; and if you look closely you will recognize a compassion between the words, a committment to teach not browbeat. This book is nearly a century old and will be relevant in a century more, barring some sort of natural calamity, nuclear war, or extraterrestrial invasion. If you like, preview an old edition in the public domain at Bartleby.
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Summary: Great Little Book
Review: A pithy little handbook that gives rules and examples to help you avoid the most common mistakes in writing, plus some smart advice on the finer points by a renowned essayist and children's writer. It is by far the single most useful book on writing. But it is not the last word. For those who wish to go further, I recommend these books in addition to Strunk & White: The Prentice Hall Handbook for Writers, for a review of basic grammar and syntax; Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by Joseph M. Williams, for more detailed advice on constructing paragraphs; The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing, by Thomas Kane, for more general advice; and Garner's Modern American Usage, for intelligent, detailed, and up-to-date guidance on diction. All these books belong on the shelf of every serious writer. (By the way, I agree with the previous reviewer that the third edition is slightly preferable to the current one.)
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Summary: TEXTBOOKS DON'T HAVE TO BE BIG
Review: While skimming through Stephen King's book ON WRITING, he highly recommended THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE. Taking his advice I searched for a copy and found one in a free bin--of all places! I looked at it and decided that it was so much better than any other textbook that I had seen that I decided to WRITE IT. Three pages a day for a month or so. It's a very short book, only about 80 pages or so. You learn everything from words that are often spelled wrong, to punctuation, to style, etc. Very blunt and to the point. No exercises in here, problems 1 - 10 all. Nope, you just read this book and enjoy it. Why, there's actually a little humor in it at times, which is pretty good for a textbook. Now I've heard some people say that this book is bad because it is saying to follow all these rules and don't stray from them. I think they got it all wrong. This book is essentially saying this: you can't blaze new trails in the English language without having a solid foundation in the basics first! This goes for ANYTHING. You don't suddenly set off an a 200 mile trek, you slowly work up to it, starting from the basics. After you have mastered the basics, then you can break free. One thing that this book continually points out is that it is OFTEN A MATTER OF EAR. Meaning that if you are experienced enough, you will know whether to stick to the traditional or whether to be liberal when phrasing something, for example. By far this is the most talked-about textbook that I've seen and the most valuable.
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Summary: If you can get past the attitude, there's a lot to learn
Review: In 1919 when William Strunk Jr. was an English professor at Cornell, he self-published this small volume and used it as a required textbook. One of his students was E.B. White who later wrote the children's classic, "Charlotte's Web" and was also a columnist for the New Yorker. In 1957, Mr. White made some slight revisions and had "The Elements of Style" republished. The result, as they say, is history. Now in its fourth edition, this small book has become a classic. I know I must have learned my grammar in elementary school, but I have no recollection of actual lessons. I don't think I ever did learn terms such as adjectival modifier, adverbial phrase, split infinitive, intransitive verb or participial phrase. My teachers must have done a good job though, because grammar has never been a problem for me. Only 85 pages long, this book was a good refresher course for me. It emphasizes clarity and conciseness and certainly is a good example of this concept itself. Of course it's not easy subway reading; grammar rules do tend to be rather boring. I can't help but picture a rather stuffy old man with a condescending attitude standing at a lectern and giving his own rule for the use of the word "prestigious" which he considers an adjective of last resort. "It's in the dictionary," he says, "but that doesn't mean you have to use it". I'm not a big fan of this kind of wit, although it does make the lessons he teaches more palatable. He's a product of another era, when students held their professors in reverence. It was the style then to talk down to students and I don't like being talked down to, even in a little book and by a man who's been dead since 1946. But it's not about the messenger; it's about the message. And Professor Strunk had something to important to say. He made a good case for clarity. I applaud that. Much of what I already believe was reinforced. In spite of myself, I did learn a lot. And getting the essence of English grammar and style into so few pages is a feat of genius. I highly recommend this book. If you can get past the attitude you will find it can even apply to e-mail correspondence. Take advantage of the learning experience. You won't be sorry.
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Summary: Your ticket to becoming a better writer
Review: Few things can make you as self-conscious about your writing as reviewing a book that you feel has improved your writing. And few things are as silly as terribly written reviews praising such books. Hopefully, what I learned from this book will lead me to be able to write a review that will convince you to buy it. Many years ago I decided that I wanted to be able to write better, but I didn't really know where to begin. I'd taken classes, but I was unsatisfied with what I had learned. I'd learned how to assemble different kinds of essays or papers, but I strongly felt that something was lacking on a more basic level. My writing lacked, well, style. I happened to ask a professional writer I knew for advice. I asked him how one could become a better writer. The answer he gave me seemed completely underwhelming at the time: "Read the Elements of Style twice a month and compare its advice to your writing," he said. He suggested that I not merely read it once but that I read it continuously, as we all need to be reminded of the guidelines it provides. Writing is a skill that improves with constant practice, much like playing a musical instrument. Take your writing, apply the lessons and guidelines from this book, and see where you can improve things. While he insisted this was the most important advice I could receive, I remained skeptical. Eventually, I had the good sense to give his advice a shot. Soon afterwards, I was a published writer. I still use this book and refer to it regularly. If you use it regularly in the way my mentor described, it will make you a better writer as well.
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Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: Simply the most valuable book on my shelf.
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Summary: A Must Have!!!
Review: When it comes to writing, this is not only a wonderful book to read cover to cover, but it is also a great reference to keep as well. I would imagine that nearly everybody needs to write (whether at work, letters, reviews on Amazon, or for fun) so everybody should have this as part of their library. While there are several other books I would suggest keeping around, there really is no substitute for this book as it is THE book to have within arms length while writing.
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Summary: It was Just Too Simplistic
Review: Based on reviews I read, I eagerly obtained a copy of this book. When I got home and perused it, I was vastly disappointed it didn't measure up to all its hype. Why? It is too simplistic! When looking for information regarding numerals, all it carries is a small paragraph about numerals in dates. I was also looking for uses of the apostrophe. Again, it only contains very limited data. In continuing to look through this book, I have not found a single answer to my questions!
A person who already has style basics under their hat should not spend their money on this book. Instead, they should gravitate towards a larger style manual, which gives much more detailed information. That is what I have done. Many of these are available.
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Summary: The best, the briefest, the most practical.
Review: Writers can learn more per word of this small book than any other book I've read on writing (quite a few). It focuses on the practicalities rather than the mysteries of writing. If you follow this book's recommendations (or commands!), whatever you write will sound better. You may still need an editor; no one can take the hard work of thinking out of writing: in other words, you can't make up in style what you lack in thought. So, think clearly and use this book when writing. Good results will ensue.
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