Thinking on Paper

Rating:
Summary: I don't know if I could've written a book without this book
Review: So you've opened a new file and are staring at a blank screen. Now what?

Howard and Barton, two Harvard researchers in education, argue in Ch. 1, "Writing Is Thinking," that writing is about generating ideas, not just communicating them, and that writer's block comes from preoccupation with the "performance" aspect of writing (and also from the myth that you need to wait for flashes of insight from a fickle "muse").

Ch. 2, "From First to Last Draft," explains a process that puts concerns about performance at the very end, where they belong: (1) Record every thought you have on your topic--half-formed thoughts, confused thoughts, silly thoughts, sentences, phrases, lists, feelings, questions--quickly, with no concern about clear formulation, aiming for quantity, not quality. (2) Go over these notes and give topical labels to large and small chunks of text. (3) Retype your notes (don't cut 'n' paste), grouping sections by topic. While this step is fairly simple and mechanical, you'll inevitably do a bit of rethinking, ammending, and revising along the way, but without stirring up performance anxiety. (4) Rearrange the topics into a sensible sequence. (5) NOW work on performance issues.

The remaining chapters are about organizing ideas into an essay format, making an argument, and grammar and punctuation. These chapters may be helpful too, but I haven't read them. I think the real gift of this book is not so much that it helps you write well but that it helps you write instead of not writing.

The process works. I can vouch for it. I'm hyper-perfectionistic, but with the help of this book and Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird," I wrote a book without ever getting paralyzed in front of a blank screen. (Now I just hope it'll work as well for my dissertation . . . )

Rating:
Summary: A How-to-Write without being superficial
Review: This a book that really epitomizes clear writing is a function of clear thinking. The first part of the book deals with the process of writing a first draft. I really liked how it laid out the stages and what was the objectives of each stage with being a cookbook. The last parts deal with reasoning for discovery and then presentation. Can be a quick read, but if you take your time and asborb the steps and the thinking behind, you will be a much better writer.

Rating:
Summary: Right to the point...
Review: This book provide good information and advices. All of them pragamatic. But don't stop there. The harder is to come. To think and write. It's hard yes. But not harder. Howard and Barton helps you to make a good start. And follow you from start to finish.
A very useful read.