Rating: 
Summary: Cutting through the Crap!
Review: You want to know how to write well? Strunk & White have written this book to make it simple to better your writing. There are many grammar and how-to-write books out there that bore you till the kingdom comes. Reading through this book was a pleasure. I learned some helpful hints about cutting out needless words and overused phrases. I am still working on my writing. I am far from perfection but The Elements of Style has given me a much needed guide to better my writing skills. This is one that Stephen King would advise you to put in your toolbox.
Rating:
Summary: Essential as a reference
Review: This book has it all. It is clear, it is short, it is easy to read, it has examples. No one that takes English seriously and has to do some, however little, writing in their job can afford to be without it.
However, within its perfection also lies its weakness. I say that as a reference, or as a tool for a "false beginner" of grammar and writing it is sufficient. If you, on the other hand, tries to start from scratch, it might not deliver. For the absolute beginner I woul recommend this book together with any of Warriner's "English Grammar and Composition" books.
Rating:
Summary: Still by far the most precise book on grammatical errors
Review: Some errors in English are inevitable. The language is a hodge podge mixture and mine field of grammatical errors. This book has been around forever because it is the best, most precise most quick and effective way to get the words out correctly. Noone going to high school or college should be without it. It's the very best reference book to own next to an Oxford dictionary.
Rating:
Summary: There's a reason why this is a classic
Review: I can't help being a little self-conscious as I write this; I dread breaking any of the rules that are tightly packed in this 105-page book. However, I feel it's necessary to heap more praise on this wonderfully slim tome, even though decades of praise have been lavished on it already. There's a reason why ELEMENTS OF STYLE has been around so long: it contains plenty of precious gems of advice to guide the high school student, while delivering plenty of reminders for the seasoned writer. During my academic career, as a student and instructor, I've had dozens of writing handbooks come across my desks. Since 1976, this is the one book to which I've turned for help, again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Short, to the point. Can't write without it.
Review: This was my very first writing 'how-to' book. My initial copy has long since bit the dust, and the one I have now has seen better days. So obviously, although it was my first, it still gets a lot of use. It's a slim book of only eighty-four pages, but it's packed with basic elements of writing that every writer should know, including: grammar, word usage and sentence structure. There's nothing new here, but I'm willing to bet you've forgotten half of what's in it. I still use it regularly - every time I need to remember the proper usage of lay and lie, or further and farther.
Rating:
Summary: A vigorous defense of clear writing
Review: The Elements of Style by Strunk and White remains within easy reach some 23 years after I started earning my living as a writer and editor. Despite attempts by many pundits to displace this venerable guide, it remains solidly perched at the top of the heap of texts on writing and editing. This book endures for many reasons, including the clear, concise prose that strikes to the heart of the matter; splendid examples that do not try to be cute; and short imperatives that codify the essence of good writing. No copy editor can go forth unless armed with this book, and any writer striving to deliver an understandable message likely has a dog-eared copy lying about. These precepts about clarity, correctness, and conciseness cut across all disciplines. Hence, this vigorous defense of clear writing is needed more than ever as a tidal wave of information, most of it ill-conceived, openly manipulative, and poorly written, floods our consciousness. Having an enduring touchstone such as The Elements of Style available helps one write better and dismiss boorish drivel more easily.
Rating:
Summary: This is a book about clarity, not a book about choices.
Review: And that's what makes it special. The book steps beyond rules for writing and suggests to us all that life with rules and clarity is better than a life without them. Even Professor Strunk's comment that rules can be broken in capable hands leaves one wondering exactly whose hands he had in mind. So read it for rules about writing if you will, but look beyond for rules about the clarity of life to discover what so many find appealing about this book.
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Little Wonder
Review: No one who writes should be without this book. That includes everyone from a student in school to a professor working on a scholarly paper. From a newspaper reporter to an award winning journalist. The book is such an amazing small wonder that, as has been pointed out by others, easily fits into your pocket so that you can always have it with you. No doubt, as I write this, I am failing to follow guidance to be found in the book, but I actually referred to it while writng the previous paragraph, so hopefully you will find no erros in this review. The book is concise and advocates precisely that: concise writing. It remains an unparalled guide to proper, effective writing.
Rating:
Summary: ESSENTIAL
Review: As the 'rules' in this iconic book take up only 14 pages, it continually amazes me how often I can find the answer to a grammar or punctuation guestion within those pages. It doesn't cover everything, and some of the 'rules' are of course changing with the passage of time - but if a wannabe writer can't afford a whole bookcase of tomes on How to Write, then this is the one he or she should buy.
Beyond those 14 pithy pages, however, are another 100 or so that extend the value of the book immeasurably: Principles of Composition, Commonly Misused Words, and perhaps the most valuable: An Approach to Style, which gives excellent advice along the lines of Do not overwrite, Avoid qualifiers, Don't over-explain, Avoid adverbs, Avoid dialect, Don't inject opinion, and tons of others.
When all's said and done, however, one of the very best parts is a wonderful essay by the inimitable EB White himself - the Introduction, which serves as a perfect example of all that the rest of the small book preaches: write concisely, clearly, and well, and say something worthwhile.
Other books for writers to consider: Bird by Bird, On Writing, and Writing Down the Bones.
Rating:
Summary: Six Stars ---- this book can't fit in five stars!
Review: 5 Stars, of course, so buy it (even if you already have a copy). If you have a copy, give one to somebody. Everybody who has interest in reading or writing should use this book. It's good for academic writing, professional writing, and teaching -- it's just great. It's simple and to the point. It makes you twice the writer or educator after just one short read. What more praise can I give this book? If there were six stars I'd give it six. I wish everybody followed the rules of this book. Our society would function better. Communication is a key to a healthy society and there is so much jargon, rhetoric, and double-talk (even in places where it historically wasn't) that our society is beginning to falter. Now, I am not saying that there is a book that can fix our society, but if there is, don't rush out at buy a bible, get "The Elements of Style."
| 
