"What did you bring that book, that I didn't want to be read to out of, up for?" (Anonymous)

On Writing Well, The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, William Zinsser
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. -- From the Publisher

Whether you write an occasional professional letter or a daily newspaper column, William Zinsser's On Writing Well should be required reading. Simplicity is Zinsser's mantra: he preaches a stripped-down writing style, strong and clear. He has no patience for excess (most use of adjectives and adverbs, he writes, just adds clutter) or tired phraseology (for instance, he'd like to outlaw all leads involving those "future archaeologists" most often found "stumbl[ing] upon the remains of our civilization"). He recommends that all writers of nonfiction read their work aloud (don't commit something to paper that you wouldn't actually say) and write under the assumption that "the reader knows nothing" (not to be confused with assuming the reader's an idiot). In addition to the chapters on the expected--usage, audience, interviews, leads--Zinsser also focuses on such trouble spots as science and technical writing, business writing, sports, and humor. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.  Editors, amazon.com

"On Writing Well belongs on any shelf of serious reference works for writers." --  New York Times

Revising Prose, by Richard Lanham
As its title implies, this book deals with revising, not with original composition. Stressing the importance of the single sentence, The Paramedic Method of revision provides an easily learned method of revision to combat the obscurities of meaning that plague The Official Style, and demonstrates how to revise this stilted, dense prose into plain English. This book has been used with success wherever extensive writing is required, and also at every level of higher education. Addresses the specific stylistic patterns that characterize most bad writing and gives an eight-step revision method called The Paramedic Method to break those patterns and improve writing. Helps with writing tasks in business, government, and the university, where The Official Style is rampant, and provides an indispensable guide to revising in every writing context.

This slim writing guide by Prof. Lanham is a must have for anyone in the writing field, the business world or the government. In under 150 pages, he attacks the "Little engine that couldn't," "is," & "to be," verbs, peoples' over use of  prepositional phrases and the official dialogue. Revising Prose, uses strong verbs to get the Lanham's points across. HE breaks down his style and shows the reader how to use his "Paramedic Method," of reviewing and editing. -- Customer Review by "umd_cyberpunk, " a "writer, student, actor and . . .  university student  (amazon.com)

The Elements Of Style, Strunk and White
A fundamental resource for writers, editors, and students since 1959, the slim volume known simply as "Strunk and White" distills the combined wisdom of Cornell University English professor William Strunk Jr. and legendary New Yorker writer E. B. White. Though there are other books on the market that delve more deeply into matters of grammar and style, this is the best single source for anyone who desires a pithy, lively guide to the essentials of effective writing. In prose that is itself a paragon of clarity, the authors indicate how to apply the basic principles of grammar and punctuation, how to properly construct a sentence and a paragraph, how to use words and expressions in their proper form and context, and how to avoid the mistakes and mannerisms that make for turgid, pretentious, or simply unintelligible writing. Even professionals who have achieved expertise in the art of written communication will want The Elements of Style nearby at all times for support and inspiration. -- From the Editors (barnesandnoble)

"No book in shorter space, with fewer words, will help any writer more than this persistent little volume."  — The Boston Globe

The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, Norm Goldstein (Ed.)
More people write for The Associated Press than for any single news source in the world, and the AP's style defines clear newspaper writing. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STYLEBOOK is therefore "the journalist's bible," an essential handbook for all writers, editors, and students. More than 5,000 entries clearly present the AP's rules on grammar, spelling, punctuation and usage, with extra section about reporting business and sports. An up-to-date ASSOCIATED PRESS STYLEBOOK belongs on the desk of every writer. This edition contains the knowledge all journalists need in order to write about the world today: the correct names of countries and organizations, offensive language to avoid, when to use brand names. It includes crucial advice on how writers can guard against libel and provides a guide to copyright  regulations. This edition has also been bound to lie flat for easy, hands-free reference. -- From Our Editors (barnesandnoble.com)

The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers, 14th Edition, Preface by John Grossman
This is the quintessential style book, providing updated information reflective of the most contemporary usage and procedures, including the referencing of electronic resources. The Chicago Manual of Style deals with everything from manuscript preparation, copyrights, and copyediting to punctuation, spelling, and other stylistic issues. There is also a section on production and printing that covers such topics as printing, binding, and papermaking. An invaluable resource  that is considered a standard in the publishing world.

Synopsis --  A comprehensive guide to widely followed -- and expected -- writing conventions. It's been around for decades and has been fully updated to deal with writing for electronic media and referencing electronic resources.. -- From Our Editors (barnesandnoble.com)

From the Publisher -- Here is the thoroughly revised and updated edition of the one essential reference for all who work with words -- writers, editors, proof-readers, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers. Almost 200 pages longer than its predecessor, this edition reflects nearly every significant change in style, usage, procedure, and technology. It is easier to use, richer in illustrative examples, and informed everywhere by the presence of computers in publishing, from manuscript preparation to editing, typesetting, indexing, design, and printing. The result of more than a decade's worth of continuous editing and revision, the changes to this edition fall into two broad categories. First are the changes designed to make the Manual's editorial guidelines more systematic, more inclusive, more reflective of contemporary usage, and more accessible . . . . The most thoroughly revised portion of the Manual is the section on documentation . . . . Notes and bibliographic entries, text citations and reference-list entries are discussed separately, and there are many examples of ways to cite a range of material --  from medieval documents to computer programs, with guidelines for citing data bases, network billboards, and other electronic documents. The other set of changes emphasizes new developments in publishing, from new technologies for composition, design and printing.   -- University of Chicago Press

The Writer's Harbrace Handbook, Robert Keith Miller, Suzanne Strobeck Webb, and Winifred Bryan Horner
A compact, yet comprehensive guide, The Writer's Harbrace Handbook responds to the demand for a "writing first" handbook that offers the ease of reference and attention to detail that have made the Harbrace Handbook a standard of reliability since 1941. While drawing on that tradition, especially in the discussion of grammar, style, punctuation, and mechanics, The Writer's Harbrace Handbook emphasizes the importance of writing process and discusses a diverse range of writing assignments.  -- From the publisher (harbrace.heinle.com)

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition, Intro by Joseph P. Pickett
As timely as it is timeless, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language offers the most information about our language in the most accessible style and the most inviting design. The fourth edition combines exacting linguistic scholarship with creative innovations in the art of dictionary making . . . . The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is once again setting the standard in dictionary making in both print and electronic format. It's no wonder it is called an American classic. -- From Our Editors (barnesandnoble.com)

"The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is the only reference tool of its kind to have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for four months. This Fourth Edition -- a milestone in the evolution of the English language -- combines exacting linguistic scholarship with creative innovations in the art of dictionary making. The addition of  full-color illustrations and the usage advice of more than 200 experts (including Joan Didion, Rita Dove, David Foster Wallace, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and John Kenneth Galbraith) gives English speakers all the resources they need to use the language with grace and accuracy. With more than 4,000 full-color photographs and illustrations, innovative notes on regionalisms and language change, new and updated usage guidance from the leading authorities, and more than 10,000 new words and senses, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language represents the ultimate in lexical reference. Discover the richness of the English language in ways you never have before, with The American Heritage Dictionary of  the English Language, Fourth Edition, available in a book and CD-ROM package that includes more than 1,000 color photographs, illustrations, and maps from the print edition; nearly 70,000 spoken pronunciations, definitions, and usage information that can be obtained instantly by highlighting and right-clicking on words in any Microsoft Office application; a simple search feature to find the word you want (even if you don't know how to spell it); and separately searchable indexes of all images and note features."  -- From the Publisher

"Only connect! . . .Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted." (E.M. Forster, Howard's End)

Writing From The Inside Out, Dennis Palumbo
An engaging and insightful book that helps writers navigate the psychological issues of creative writing . . . . Based on Dennis Palumbo's overwhelmingly popular "The Writer's Life" column, which appears in the journal of the Writer's Guild of America, this well-written collection sheds light on the sometimes arduous process of writing, along with the mental life of the writer. From writer's block and jealousy to finding inspiration and dealing with rejection, Palumbo covers the most common psychological issues faced by writers of all kinds. Written from the perspective of a successful writer, psychotherapist (whose clientele is made up primarily of writers), and practicing Zen Buddhist, these pieces warmly convey encouragement, inspiration, and solid advice to help both experienced authors and novices navigate the sometimes tumultuous terrain of writing.

Dennis Palumbo (Los Angeles, CA) is a licensed psychotherapist, specializing in creative issues. He has been a screenwriter, most notably of the award-winning film, My Favorite Year, and has written numerous series episodes and pilots for television, as well as a novel, City Wars. Palumbo has been a columnist for the LA Times and Emmy magazine.  His popular "The Writer's Life" column appears in Written By, the Journal of the Writers Guild of America.  -- From the Publisher (barnesandnoble.com)

Writing A Woman's Life, Carolyn Heilbrun
With great eloquence, this author shows how throughout the centuries, those who write about woman's lives -- biographers and autobiographers -- have suppressed the truth of the female experience, in order to make the written life conform to society's expectations of what that life should be. -- (barnesandnoble.com)

A delight to read, for Heilbrun never hesitates to talk straightforwardly about forbidden subjects -- such as  women's anger and desire for power. She celebrates both, because they give us strength, and she also gives generous credit to other women, especially Nancy K. Miller, who have helped hone her ideas. Our greatest source of knowledge and power is consciousness-raising with other women, she says . . . But what is most inspiring about Writing a Woman's Life is Heilbrun's celebration of growing old for women. The older we get, she points out with relish, the less we need to care what 'they' think. We become much freer to ignore rules, including beauty standards: as they aged,  Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Margaret Mead chose to be fat and felt fine. . . . Past 50, we worry less and less about catering to others' needs, and the last third of life is best marked by 'laughter,' the 'spontaneous recognition of insight and love and freedom.' -- From Emily Toth -- Women's Review of Books

Drawing on the experience of celebrated women, from George Sand and Virginia Woolf to Dorothy Sayers and Adrienne Rich, Heilbrun examines the struggle these writers undertook when their drives made it impossible for them to follow the traditional "male" script for a woman's life. Refreshing and insightful, this is an homage to brave women past and present, and an invitation to all women to write their own scripts, whatever they may be . . . . If Carolyn Heilbrun's astute and provocative book had been available 25 years ago, most of my friends and I could have been spared considerable grief.  But it required the women's movement and the feminist scholarship of the last two decades to provide the political and intellectual scaffolding for this collection of wise and witty essays. Focusing on biography, Ms. Heilbrun provides positive female models for a wide range of experiences -- from friendship to courtship, from marriage and other social and erotic arrangements to solitude and aging. A professor at Columbia University and author of eight mystery novels under the pseudonym Amanda Cross, as well as two acclaimed scholarly books, Ms. Heilbrun blends the sophistication of recent feminist theory with highly textured details from the lives of independent and ambitious women . . . . 'Writing a Woman's Life' is accessible, engaging and compelling. It will be read with great pleasure and interest by specialists and general readers alike and should be required reading for all women before they turn 21 [my emphasis -- B.D.]. -- From Wendy Martin - The New York Times Book Review

On Becoming A Writer, Dorothea Brande, Introduction by John Gardner
Even in 1934, Dorothea Brande knew that most writers didn't need another book on "technique" -- and this, before so many more would be published. No, she realized, as John Gardner notes in his foreword, "the root problems of the writer are personality problems," and thus her wise book is designed to simply help you get over yourself and start writing, with techniques ranging from a simple declaration to write every day at a fixed time -- no matter what -- to exercises that come close to inventing the TM and self-actualization movements that would follow a few decades later. -- Review on Amazon.com

Dorothea Brande's Becoming a Writer has become a classic - a unique and genuinely inspirational guide to creative writing, constantly reprinting, constantly in demand with writers and students of writing. She believes that there is such a  thing as the writer's magic, that everybody has it in differing degrees and that it can be taught. This book is about freeing that unconscious ability in all of us. -- From the Table of Contents

On Becoming A Novelist, John Gardner [Note: Creative Nonfiction uses "fictional technique."  Therefore . . . . ]
The author} successfully explores the dynamic chemistry at the heart of the writer's creative process. Gardner's book is a superbly written, thoroughly original, eminently useful volume. . . . In the unforgettable first section, Gardner advises the aspiring novelist to develop certain qualities as being essential to propel the writer's 'vivid and continuous dream' to the quick of the reader's consciousness. The remainder of the book offers reassurance and encouragement to the fledgling novelist.

Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents: Who they are! What they want! How to win them over!, Jeff Herman
This 15th annual edtion of the classic best-selling writer’s directory provides everything working writers need to find the most receptive publishers, editors, and agents for their work. Each entry presents an overview of the publisher (more than 400 are profiled), including its history and current lines, followed by the names of specific editors, the areas of interest, and complete contact information. It also features listings for more than 130 top literary agencies, along with their agents, who they represent, and how to contact them. Finally, this important reference includes expert guidance on such valuable topics as how to pitch a book, prepare a winning query an proposal, and negotiate a contract. -- Jeff Herman
This is the best guide for getting published that I've seen...and I know of a few agents and editors who have recommended it to writers just getting started on their way to finding agents and submitting their work! -- Bruce Dobler

"The most incomprehensible thing about the Universe is that it is comprehensible . . . The important thing is not to stop questioning . . . Never lose a holy curiosity . . . . "  --  Albert Einstein

Questions, comments?  bdobler@pitt.edu   Return to Bruce Dobler's Reading List  -- >  www.pitt.edu/~bdobler/readingnf.html

Web Address for this page is www.pitt.edu/~bdobler/handbooks.html                 Last Revised: 5/30/06