This book is excellent for those who write well and want to write even
better.

Zinsser patiently instructs his readers
on how to write about travel or science, how to conduct an interview, how to craft an effective lead
and ending, and even how to get started. Along the way, Zinsser entreats us to omit clutter and
cliché, strike out useless adverbs, adjectives, and qualifiers, incorporate active verbs, and
strive for correct usage as well as unity of pronoun, tense, and mood. But the overriding messages
are clarity, simplicity, and directness. Keep it crisp. Oh, and just like driving a car, always
signal your intentions (keep that "but" at the beginning of the sentence).

Two specific pages in
Zinsser's book have remained etched in my mind from the moment I took them in almost two decades
ago. They comprise the most genuine and revealing demonstration I have ever seen in a book on
writing. On those two pages (pages 10 and 11 in the first edition), Zinsser provides a glimpse at
the penultimate draft of the very book you are reading, juxtaposed with the corresponding pages in
final form; in so doing, Zinsser invites you to critically examine his own writing, while revealing
something of his process. This was brilliant. Those few pages (penultimate draft plus final draft)
are alone worth the price of the book.

The lessons in this comparison are profound: First, Zinsser
himself practices what he professes, but more importantly, even he is prone to inflate sentences
with useless verbiage. What Zinsser has beautifully illustrated is how his writing came to be so
tight. It did not spring from his mind to paper in the form we see; rather, it was gradually shaped
through repeated editing, much of it with the aim of removing unnecessary words. (One could say
that he is more like Beethoven, who endlessly rewrote, rather than Mozart, who composed finished
works in one stroke.) I immediately adopted this practice and to this day I devote several final
editing passes to the removal of useless words. I can think of no other lesson that I have learned
in my 22 years of formal education that has been so enduring and consistently useful.

In the past
decade I have recommended this book to each of my graduate students, and nearly all of my
colleagues; at times I have simply purchased a copy and presented it to them. Of course, such a
gesture can be taken the wrong way. It needn't imply that one's writing is in desperate need of
repair, but rather that the content is worthy of concise expression. It was in the latter spirit
that I shared Zinsser's book with my students and colleagues, and I believe all have gained from
it.

Do yourself a life-long favor and read this wonderful book. It won't take long, yet its
lessons might forever change the way you write. Your readers will benefit, and you will benefit.

Topics covered in this are the principles of the transaction in using the English
language to achieve the greatest clarity and strength. Most important rule is the one of simplicity.
Clutter is a killer. Remember the KISS rule. Keep It Simple Smartypants! Believe in your own
identity and your own opinions. Style is important. Sell yourself, and your subject will express
it's own appeal. Get to know your audience. For example E. B. White could write about anything and
make it sound good. Even if it was chickens! For words, what could we do without them? The end of
civilization in catastrophic propostions, right? Invest in a good dictionary, book of synonyms, a
thesaurus and 'The Elements of Style.' Words are the only tools you got. Use them with originality
and care. Always remember that somebody's out there listening. The book is chalk ful of such useful
advice my review couldn't squeeze them all in. If you want the step in the write direction, I'd
highly recommend this. You'll be using this and the "Elements of Style' book by Strunk & White. I
know I am.