Business E-Mail: How to Make It Professional and Effective

Rating:
Summary: Improving your E Mail
Review: ..........................................

Filled with tips for old hands as well as for those who are new

to e-mail, this book is sure to help everyone write better

business messages on the job. Part 1 is specifically about how to

use e-mail at work. Part 2 is a useful guide to the nitty-gritty

of business writing for e-mail and on hard copy - how to get the

words and punctuation right so that you sound and look

professional.

The book is a great resource. I keep it on the shelf above my
computer so I can refer to it often. It's full of helpful
examples that show the wrong way and the right way to use words.
The complete index makes it easy to find things. You won't have
to wonder about whether to use lie or lay, which or that, fewer
or less, I or myself. You won't have to wonder about how to
address a new client or whether to send an urgent message. The
answers are all there in this one handy book.

Rating:
Summary: A quick glance at e-mail and clear business writing
Review: This book may be useful for the e-mail newcomers or for native English speakers who are not very skilled in the formal writing.

The book consists of two parts: "How to make e-mail work for you" and "How to write for business". The first part covers basic usage of e-mail, and can be helpful for e-mail newbies. However, if you've sent ten thousand messages so far, it is unlikely that you find anything useful there.

The author has dedicated the second chapter of the book to business writing. It is mostly a set of dos and don'ts, without deeper analysis. I recommend separate, deep books on business writing and correct use of English. The author, has also given a list of references that include "The American Heritage Book of English Usage" by Editors of The American Heritage Dictionaries, "The American heritage Dictionary of the English Language" by Editors of The American Heritage Dictionaries, "Alphabet to Email" by Naomi S. Baron, "Email in the Workplace" by Cristina Cavanagh, "The Chicago Manual of Style" by John Grossman, "Grammar for Grownups" by Val Dumond, "Cliffsquickreview Writing" by Jean Eggenschwiller and "E-What?" by Editors of EEI Press.

Rating:
Summary: avoid overwriting e-mails
Review: To tell you the truth, I haven't read this book. But I thought this would be a convenient place to make fun of this guy in my office who sends out these ridiculously over-worded, multi-page e-mails with the delineated paragraphs and varying fonts to communicate an idea that a normal person could convey in less than 20 words. I get about 7 or 8 messages from him every day, giving me a "project status update" or whatever, whenever he hears something from someone, no matter how trivial or how unrelated it is to my role in the project.

I trust Ms Smith has addressed this problem in her book, and I highly recommend the book to anyone who sends out annoying, unnecessary e-mails to their co-workers all day long.