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A review by toeffy
How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them by Ben Yagoda
4.0
A very useful overview
I really enjoyed the first two parts of the book. Being a non-native English speaker, I've found the brevity of most grammar / punctuation rules very practical; to the point of having some of them pinned at my desk. For the most part there were no lengthy explanations why one should or should not write this way or another, a simple "Don't do that" really does the trick. I also agree with Yagoda, that the best way to improve your writing is by reading a lot. Therefore short advice, as the ones given in this book, help best to point one's attention to the problem-areas; whereas, in the end, one should learn to rely on one's own aquired sense of style.
This is not a five-star-rating, however, for I've found the style section to be rather subjective. Yagoda's advise on style / word choice can be boiled down to "keep it short and simple". On the other hand, as he expressively states in the introduction, it is a book on not writing bad; therefore "the sky is blue", while bland, is not bad writing, whereas "the azure hue of the heavenly dome" is. [Btw, I get the feeling that I violated all of the punctuation rules of the book in that last sentence... So, if anything, it at least makes you aware of your problems.]
Facit: I do wholeheartedly recommend it to aspiring writers (native and non-native alike), though I feel like his stylistic advice is rather subjective and more useful for journalism / non-fiction than fiction writers.
I really enjoyed the first two parts of the book. Being a non-native English speaker, I've found the brevity of most grammar / punctuation rules very practical; to the point of having some of them pinned at my desk. For the most part there were no lengthy explanations why one should or should not write this way or another, a simple "Don't do that" really does the trick. I also agree with Yagoda, that the best way to improve your writing is by reading a lot. Therefore short advice, as the ones given in this book, help best to point one's attention to the problem-areas; whereas, in the end, one should learn to rely on one's own aquired sense of style.
This is not a five-star-rating, however, for I've found the style section to be rather subjective. Yagoda's advise on style / word choice can be boiled down to "keep it short and simple". On the other hand, as he expressively states in the introduction, it is a book on not writing bad; therefore "the sky is blue", while bland, is not bad writing, whereas "the azure hue of the heavenly dome" is. [Btw, I get the feeling that I violated all of the punctuation rules of the book in that last sentence... So, if anything, it at least makes you aware of your problems.]
Facit: I do wholeheartedly recommend it to aspiring writers (native and non-native alike), though I feel like his stylistic advice is rather subjective and more useful for journalism / non-fiction than fiction writers.