The New Oxford Guide to Writing

Rating:
Summary: I am terribly upset I didn't learn of it sooner.
Review: It's great. Add it to a couple of books on basic grammar and usage and you're ducky.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and useful
Review: The entertaining aspect is the quotations illustrating various techniques of style. The useful aspect is the identification of many features of style unnoticed by me.

It may indicate the age of the author that on p. 32 he recommends "If you type .... Keep the keys clean and invest now and then in a new ribbon." He has no special advice for users of a word processor, and I'd guess he never used one. He refers to Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, which gives an idea of how new "new" is.

I'd put this book at a high-school to first-year college level. The author's style is that of a friendly and knowledgable advisor, pedantic at times, but usually not.

I found the examples really made the points, and the overall view of techniques shows what can be done.

Rating:
Summary: The essential book for writing instructors
Review: The New Oxford Guide to Writing is vastly superior to the grammar manuals and reference books that writing instructors usually assign their students. Kane doesn't merely prescribe rules for students to memorize; he imparts genuine understanding of the mechanics and conventions of good prose and takes you through the entire writing process, from facing a blank page to polishing a finished piece. By demystifying this process, Kane's guide empowers students to find their own voices and to keep improving their skills for years to come.

Everyone, from beginner to professional, should have a copy of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Know all the techniques and why they work. Write with class.
Review: This is the best book on writing I've read so far. It would be more precise to say this is a book on how to dress your thoughts in words most effectively.

I still remember an illustrative example somewhere in the initial pages. What is not so good about the sentence "She dresses in a beaatuful manner" ?. Well, it becomes more effective when written as "She dresses beautifully". In the long phrase "in a beautiful manner", the focus is dissipated over many words. Whereas, "beautifully" compresses meaning in one word and what's more, it sits at the end of the sentence, tending to stay in the reader's mind longer.

The book is full of such fine points and subtle techniques. Kane has taken a wonderfully orderly approach to teaching the writing process right from the basic element - the sentence, to the whole picture - the essay. Gradually building layer on layer, you see how the parts make the whole and how different aspects of writing contribute to the reader's final experience.

There are many meaningful exercises that will make you understand the huge number of tehcniques. Another important feature of the book is its examples of different types and styles of writing taken from a wide range of well known authors -Bertrand Russell, Samuel Johnson, E B White, Virginia Woolf, G K Chesterton, H G Wells, Mark Twain and so on. Kane takes each excerpt from these authors and explains why they work.

With a little effort, you can start writing almost as well as them, at least you'll know how those great authors thought before penning their ideas.

The book is set in very eye-pleasing font and well presented. Get the hardback if you can. If you're really interested in writing, this is a book you'll want to treasure.