The Little, Brown Essential Handbook for Writers (4th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: useful writers handbook
Review: My school requires all students to buy copies of this book before entering high school and I do not think they could have chosen a better book to use as a basis for grammar excercises and teaching proper citing protocol. While I have only used sections of this book, it seems to be easy to use and contrary to what an earlier reviewer said, both section names and page numbers are listed in the table of contents. The book is tiny, perfect for carrying in my backback and holds a ton of information. The only problem I have with this handbook is that there is an updated MLA pamphlet that is included with the book and it is harder to understand. Also, the book really should be brown just so the books shows some sense of humor (just kidding). I would highly recommend this book to high school students as a quick reference guide for writing research papers and projects.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to Navigate
Review: The layout of this book is very strange, rendering it hard to use. Only a summary Table of Contents appears at the beginning of the book. Worse, it is split over two facing pages--that is, the Table of Contents is presented as one page with the book binding splitting the page in the middle. And, though the book is organized by numbered sections, the section numbers (incredibly) do not appear in the summary Table of Contents. There is a detailed Table of Contents, but it doesn't appear until the literal end of the book. It spans the last page and the inside back cover and is mostly hidden by a fold-in book flap (now that's handy). Of course, this also means that the index is not actually at the end of the book, as you foolishly might have expected; it preceeds that detailed Table of Contents.

It is a lot of work to use this book. The content may be good, but if you're looking for guidance on something specific, you're going to have to dig to find it. A guide should be easy to use, not a chore, in and of itself.

Rating:
Summary: Handy Guide
Review: The Little, Brown Essential Handbook for Writers is a useful guide for grammar, style, punctuation, and other writers' needs. The plastic binding makes the book easy to manage when referencing and editing your work.

It isn't always as detailed as a writer might like on usage, but if you have a strong handle on usage, then this shouldn't be a problem.

The book is small and compact, so it doesn't take up a lot of shelf space, but it is full of useful information. It's also great as a writer's traveling companion. Information is quick and easy to find. I recommend keeping this one nearby when proofreading and editing one's work.