Rating: 
Summary: Unfortunately dull
Review: I was a little disappointed by this book since I'm a great fan of Ken Smith. All of his previous books were written on other interesting topics and resulted in some really fun and informative reads (Mental Hygiene, Raw Deal, Roadside America). Junk English succeeds, somewhat, at the informing part. There's a lot of insight into how English is being destroyed . I imagine Ken watching television and obsessively scribbling down his examples. But the book suffers from bad organization. It goes in a mindless alphabetical order, by both offending words and topics. It would help a lot if it went topic by topic. And the entertaining part is almost nonexistant. Sentences pop up here and there giving a glimpse of the fun writer Smith can be, but mostly it does read like a dictionary.
Rating:
Summary: A compilation of rules and author's peeves, but not essays.
Review: I'm always up for a curmudgeonly bashing of those who abuse the English language. However, after reading The Way We Talk Now and The Mother Tongue, I found this effort to be a disappointment.If you're expecting clever essays on grammar, this is not the place to find them. The book is more of a dictionary of sorts, arranged alphabetically, with the author's comments following each entry. There's no prose, no attempt to be clever; instead it's more a collection of 'do THIS instead of THAT.' This might make the book useful as a style guide, but as light reading, forget it.
Rating:
Summary: A compilation of rules and author's peeves, but not essays.
Review: I'm always up for a curmudgeonly bashing of those who abuse the English language. However, after reading The Way We Talk Now and The Mother Tongue, I found this effort to be a disappointment. If you're expecting clever essays on grammar, this is not the place to find them. The book is more of a dictionary of sorts, arranged alphabetically, with the author's comments following each entry. There's no prose, no attempt to be clever; instead it's more a collection of 'do THIS instead of THAT.' This might make the book useful as a style guide, but as light reading, forget it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Strangling Fig
Review: Irrespective of its cultural foundation and legacy, English has been and continues to be the de facto international language. Its cross cultural dominance is near absolute. A case in point is that English is the lingua franca for all international air traffic from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. While scholars like Crystal, Phillipson, and Pennycook have put forth academic constructs on the politics of the English language and its influences on other cultures, Ken Smith's goal in writing "Junk English" is more concrete, immediate, and urgent. Like Philip Howard and R.W. Holder who'd preceded him, Smith is the latest voice wandering the wilderness of newspeak and euphemisms, decrying: "Junk English is much more than sloppy grammar. It is a hash of human frailties and cultural license: spurning the language of the educated yet spawning its own pretentious words and phrases, favoring appearance over substance, broadness over precision, and loudness above all. It is sometimes innocent, sometimes lazy, sometimes well intended, but most often it is a trick we play on ourselves to make the unremarkable seem important." (p.15) Among the witty illustrious examples of "Junk English" usage, Smith has many times alluded to a category of words known as "parasitic intensifiers." He has asseverated that these intensifiers are used by those who feel uneasy when words are left to pull their own weight. What were "formerly strong words are being reduced to lightweights that need to be bulked up with intensifiers to regain their punch...The intensifier drains the vigor from its host." (p.98). If one were 'to offer insight' or to 'oppose a position', he doesn't get much noticed if not entirely ignored in the these days unless his insight is "valuable" and the opposition "diametrical". Parasitic words are insidiously putative. Smith himself is not immuned to them. He has spoken to gatherings of a blunder he'd made on page 16 of the book - after the book has been published. (As a teaser to prospective readers, this reviewer will keep the author's finding to himself. Hint: This parasitic word to which the author has confessed can be found on page 98. *grin*) Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Oscar Hijuelos has heaped praises on the English language. He sees English as a robust and efficient language upon which the brick-by-brick world is built. He and the Ken Smiths are in the minority, however. The brick foundation has already cracked. The task to contain the strangling fig* of the English language is Sisyphean. A final thought. This book should appeal to those who won't accept word-pairs like "further" and "farther", or "who" and "whom" as grammatical equivalents. For some others their reaction would probably be:"what's grandma got to do with junk English?" *Strangler fig is a common name for a number of tropical vines that grow on healthy trees, strangling them and eventually becoming trees themselves.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing! A book that teaches yet is fun to read!
Review: Junk English is, perhaps, Ken Smith's greatest work to date. Junk English is an interesting and humorous take on the current state of the written English language but more than that it is a reference book that can make you a better writer. Before reading Junk English I was certain that all books that could make a person a better writer had to be dull and lifeless. Junk English shatters that myth in grand style thanks to Ken Smith's wit and writing style. This book will take it's proper place in my library next to my other English reference books but, more than that, it will remain the ONLY book about the English language that was fun to read.
Rating:
Summary: A humbling imperative
Review: Ken Smith has written an equally dazzling and puzzling book that will leave you wondering what words you might have overused... In this little book, he compiles a list of the many words that have been abused by arrogance, misunderstanding, and sheer nonsense. Nothing rings true about these words but their dictionary definitions. They may puzzle, and excite, but their silence rings true as empty bells.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, Entertaining and Thought Provoking
Review: Not your mamma's grammar book, Junk English is as much about the politics of writing as it is about the concrete idea of solid grammar. If nothing else, issues brought up in this book are great conversation starters at parties and get togethers. And yes, all of the above is not typical of your typical grammar book. If you want typical grammar books, don't buy one that sounds so obviously different.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, Entertaining and Thought Provoking
Review: Not your mamma's grammar book, Junk English is as much about the politics of writing as it is about the concrete idea of solid grammar. If nothing else, issues brought up in this book are great conversation starters at parties and get togethers. And yes, all of the above is not typical of your typical grammar book. If you want typical grammar books, don't buy one that sounds so obviously different.
Rating:
Summary: Weak treatment of a solid subject
Review: The author's intention is sound: to rid the world of junk (imprecise) English. The need for this is obvious - even the best writers fall prey to redundant or misused words. The organization of the book doesn't support such a grand ambition, though. A dictionary format would seem to be a good way to remedy the problem, but the author slips between types of mistakes and specific words. In doing this, the book becomes hard to follow, and lacks a core theory or concept to follow. Instead, it turns into a list of "Don't do this..." While I applaud the author's intention, and am a better writer (I hope!) for having read this book, I would have appreciated better delivery. This is not in the league of "Elements of Style".
Rating:
Summary: Weak treatment of a solid subject
Review: The author's intention is sound: to rid the world of junk (imprecise) English. The need for this is obvious - even the best writers fall prey to redundant or misused words. The organization of the book doesn't support such a grand ambition, though. A dictionary format would seem to be a good way to remedy the problem, but the author slips between types of mistakes and specific words. In doing this, the book becomes hard to follow, and lacks a core theory or concept to follow. Instead, it turns into a list of "Don't do this..." While I applaud the author's intention, and am a better writer (I hope!) for having read this book, I would have appreciated better delivery. This is not in the league of "Elements of Style".
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