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effaly's review
1.0
DNF @20%
The book should be called "A biography about me and everyone I ever met". While Zinsser mentions several times in the 20% that writing is important, he never talks about writing; about the thought process, the planning, the writing itself, the editing etc.
Instead, he rambles about his life and gives an awfully detailed description of everyone and everything. Not to mention that he really is not a great writer. I mean, look at this quote:
The book should be called "A biography about me and everyone I ever met". While Zinsser mentions several times in the 20% that writing is important, he never talks about writing; about the thought process, the planning, the writing itself, the editing etc.
Instead, he rambles about his life and gives an awfully detailed description of everyone and everything. Not to mention that he really is not a great writer. I mean, look at this quote:
I asked Thomas Gover how to get to Gustavus Adolphus. He said that if I flew to Minneapolis he would meet me at the airport. I said I’d see him there.
araellion's review against another edition
Didn't really have instructions for writing to learn.
ariver's review
4.0
It has been a delight to read this book ten pages at a time over the span of a few months, for a few reasons. First, his format is admirable. Zinsser divides his chapters into sections of roughly the same size, and the overall editing is elegant and straightforward. Second, in the book's second half Zinsser uses the same process he recommends. He tours many disciplines and finds examples of writing either to teach, to learn, or both -- and throughout, he indicates that he himself is learning alongside the reader. And now I have a couple dozen new books to read within all those disciplines.
rebcamuse's review
5.0
Zinsser's book is both an anthology and a narrative about his experience with the concept of "writing across the curriculum." He recounts how good writing in other fields helped break down his misconception that certain subjects were, at best boring, or at worst, unlearnable. He posits that writing is the best way for students to engage with material--any material.
Through carefully selected reading examples and personal examples, [author: William Zinsser] engages with the natural world, art, physics, music, chemistry, mathematics, anthropology, etc...the world of learning becomes limitless and accessible. Zinsser defines three "R"s for writing: No matter the subject, good writing will have Resonance, Relevancy and Responsibility (Accountability).
Through carefully selected reading examples and personal examples, [author: William Zinsser] engages with the natural world, art, physics, music, chemistry, mathematics, anthropology, etc...the world of learning becomes limitless and accessible. Zinsser defines three "R"s for writing: No matter the subject, good writing will have Resonance, Relevancy and Responsibility (Accountability).
qkjgrubb's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent writing book!
The first section was the best! I appreciated Zissner's tone, his practical help and the very idea that writing to learn is essential. I took a lot of notes, not just for me as a professional writer but also as a homeschooling mother & writing tutor. Not only were the examples well-written, they were educational too. I'm going to buy this book for my writing library.
The first section was the best! I appreciated Zissner's tone, his practical help and the very idea that writing to learn is essential. I took a lot of notes, not just for me as a professional writer but also as a homeschooling mother & writing tutor. Not only were the examples well-written, they were educational too. I'm going to buy this book for my writing library.
neilrcoulter's review
4.0
I’ve read On Writing Well several times (and am having my writing students read it this semester), but I hadn’t read anything else by William Zinsser. I picked up Writing to Learn, planning to read a chapter or two a day—but I just couldn’t put it down. I find Zinsser to be one of the most addictive writers, so easy to read. Even when I don’t quite agree with him, he’s a lot of fun.
Some of this book overlaps with On Writing Well (and they complement each other perfectly), but Zinsser’s main point here is to affirm the value of “writing across the curriculum,” arguing that even the subjects you might not think would benefit from writing (math and chemistry, for example) are still greatly enhanced by interacting through writing. He draws examples from two extremes: on the one hand, students just learning the subjects, and on the other hand, some of the most refined writers and renowned thinkers in history. For me, this was enjoyable to read, though perhaps not proving his point very effectively. I agree that it’s wonderful to read examples of some of the most engaging nonfiction prose; but that doesn’t mean that I’m likely to become a Charles Darwin or a John Muir. Clear writing was part of their intellectual persona and development, sure, but there were so many other factors involved, too.
My other criticism of Zinsser, here as in On Writing Well, is that even across a wide range of disciplines and topics, he still prefers a very particular kind of writing. He likes a conversational, informal, friendly tone that draws the reader in. That’s fine, and of course I love that style of voice too, but I don’t know if it’s appropriate for every context, or that every piece of writing would benefit from that style. My area is academic writing (which Zinsser doesn’t touch at all, really), and the witty, engaging style that Zinsser likes just won’t fly in everyone’s PhD dissertation, or in all ethnographies. I wish Zinsser could have give some perspective on this side of writing, too. When is it okay not to be so clever and informal in your prose?
However, these are relatively minor criticisms of a book and author that I generally love, understanding what to expect from him. It’s never bad to read a panorama of really good nonfiction prose. The example that I remember most from Writing to Learn is Lewis Thomas’s New York Public Library lecture (pp. 168–173; later published as “A Long Line of Cells” (1986)), in which Zinnser had asked Thomas to talk about memoir and autobiography, and Thomas proceeded to give a history of himself from the beginning of human evolution through the development of his own first cell in the womb.
In addition to all the examples Zinsser presents, he also has a number of very memorable passages of his own about the craft of writing. Here are some that I shared with my students:
He also writes some very funny lines, of course, and here’s my favorite—remembering his struggles in an elementary school math class with his teacher, Mr. Spicer:
Some of this book overlaps with On Writing Well (and they complement each other perfectly), but Zinsser’s main point here is to affirm the value of “writing across the curriculum,” arguing that even the subjects you might not think would benefit from writing (math and chemistry, for example) are still greatly enhanced by interacting through writing. He draws examples from two extremes: on the one hand, students just learning the subjects, and on the other hand, some of the most refined writers and renowned thinkers in history. For me, this was enjoyable to read, though perhaps not proving his point very effectively. I agree that it’s wonderful to read examples of some of the most engaging nonfiction prose; but that doesn’t mean that I’m likely to become a Charles Darwin or a John Muir. Clear writing was part of their intellectual persona and development, sure, but there were so many other factors involved, too.
My other criticism of Zinsser, here as in On Writing Well, is that even across a wide range of disciplines and topics, he still prefers a very particular kind of writing. He likes a conversational, informal, friendly tone that draws the reader in. That’s fine, and of course I love that style of voice too, but I don’t know if it’s appropriate for every context, or that every piece of writing would benefit from that style. My area is academic writing (which Zinsser doesn’t touch at all, really), and the witty, engaging style that Zinsser likes just won’t fly in everyone’s PhD dissertation, or in all ethnographies. I wish Zinsser could have give some perspective on this side of writing, too. When is it okay not to be so clever and informal in your prose?
However, these are relatively minor criticisms of a book and author that I generally love, understanding what to expect from him. It’s never bad to read a panorama of really good nonfiction prose. The example that I remember most from Writing to Learn is Lewis Thomas’s New York Public Library lecture (pp. 168–173; later published as “A Long Line of Cells” (1986)), in which Zinnser had asked Thomas to talk about memoir and autobiography, and Thomas proceeded to give a history of himself from the beginning of human evolution through the development of his own first cell in the womb.
In addition to all the examples Zinsser presents, he also has a number of very memorable passages of his own about the craft of writing. Here are some that I shared with my students:
I never stopped to ask, “Who is the typical Yale alumnus? Who am I editing for?” One of my principles is that there is no typical anybody; every reader is different. I edit for myself and I write for myself. I assume that if I consider something interesting or funny, a certain number of other people will too. . . . Meanwhile I draw on two sources of energy that I commend to anyone trying to survive in this vulnerable craft: confidence and ego. If you don’t have confidence in what you’re doing you might as well not do it. (25)Little bits of wisdom like this, based on Zinsser’s many years of experience as a writer, editor, and teacher (and spending time with other people who have all kinds of interesting experience), are helpful bursts of motivation for any writer.Whenever I embark on a story so overloaded with good material I despair of ever getting to the end—of covering the ground I know I’ll need to cover to tell the story right. In my gloom it helps me to remember two things. One is that writing is linear and sequential. If sentence B logically follows sentence A, and if sentence C logically follows sentence B, I’ll eventually get to sentence Z. I also try to remember that the reader should be given only as much information as he needs and not one word more. Anything else is a self-indulgence. (33–34)
Achieving a decent piece of writing is such a difficult task that it often strikes the reader as having been just that: a task. It accomplishes its purpose, and perhaps we shouldn’t ask for anything more. But we do. We wish the writer had had a better time—or at least had given us that impression. . . . Writing is a craft, and a writer is someone who goes to work every day with his tools, like the carpenter or the television repairman, no matter how he feels, and if one of the things he wants to produce by 6 p.m. is a sense of enjoyment in his writing, he must generate it by an act of will. Nobody else is going to do it for him. (73, 75)
He also writes some very funny lines, of course, and here’s my favorite—remembering his struggles in an elementary school math class with his teacher, Mr. Spicer:
Such self-pity would have been despised by Mr. Spicer; emotions have no place in mathematics. He was one of those people who have “a head for figures,” instantly certain that twelve times nine is—well, whatever it is. Confronted with a student who was unable to produce the right answer, he would begin to turn red, a man betrayed by his vascular system, until his round face and bald head were crimson with disbelief that such dim-wittedness was at large in the next generation. (150)On Writing Well remains the number-one Zinsser for every writer to read; but Writing to Learn is also excellent to read at some point afterward, when you need a quick shot of encouragement to keep writing. As with On Writing Well, this is a book that pushes me toward other good books, and that's a wonderful thing.