- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Quill Press; 25th anniversary ed Non fiction guide edition (Sep 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060006641
- ISBN-13: 978-0060006648
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.5 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 322,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
On Writing Well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet. Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you fundamental priciples as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more than a million copies sole, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valuable resource for writers and would-be writers.
About the Author
William Zinsser is a writer, editor and teacher. He began his career with the New York Herald Tribune and has long been a freelance writer for leading magazines. During the 1970s he taught writing at Yale, where he was master of Branford College. From 1979 to 1987 he was general editor of the Book-of-the-Month Club. His 15 books, ranging from jazz to baseball, also includeSpeaking of Journalism, American Places and the influential Writing to Learn. He now teaches at the New School in New York, his hometown.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have bought a dozen copies of this over the years and distributed them to friends and colleagues. This is the most sensible and sound advice on writing well I have seen. It helps you clarify what you wish to say, and dispels the myths of inpenetrable "business"-speak and the "bank-teller mentality" superbly. It has clear examples and is an enjoyable read. After you have read this you will realise finally that you can delete up to 50% of the words you use in a first draft and make it 200% better!
61 of 65 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I approached Zinsser's book "On Writing Well" for its good reviews, and thus spent money and time on it. My opinion is that Zinsser went off topic; he exercised self-indulgence, lost sight of the topic, and delivered an auto-biography. I learned more about the author's life than his art of writing. The book is also a marketing operation; the main-matter includes extensive references to other works by the same author and his present business, so much that I felt an invitation to read those works and enroll in a class at the author's "New School" in New York, to learn what the book was supposed to deliver on paper! This is not supposed to happen, and I resent it. --- I read the book twice. The first time, to understand that much of it is needless. The second time, to spot the words of wisdom that are scattered in its 300 pages, take notes, and put the book away in my personal library. My reference book on the subject remains Strunk's "Elements of Style". By comparison, Strunk's work stays on my desk. I share Zinsser's own opinion that anyone serious about writing should read Strunk every year. I would say, read it so often to memorize it. I wish Zinsser's work were along the lines of Strunk's own, to complement it.
49 of 53 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Whether you write for fun or work, this book delivers what is promised by the title. The article which had the biggest impact on me was the example of a draft essay and the way in which the writer pares away the driftwood (unlike this review) until the article is succinct and unambiguous; making it a pleasure to read. Enjoy and learn at the same time.
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