A review by ddillon154
Every Day I Write the Book: Notes on Style by Amitava Kumar

5.0

Few books have been as invigorating or as validating to me as "Every Day I Write the Book." The book itself is a collection of short (sometimes only a few sentences) pieces that reflect on the problems of form and style, especially the overly dry and lifeless ones that dominate in academia. Kumar is fed up, seems to have been for quite some time, and so has done something about it. Part manifesto, part journal, part scribbled notes on the backside of napkins, this book argues, perhaps promises, that there are other ways to "write the book" (or dissertation) and delivers a variety of provocations that could lead the reader to discover their own. Highly recommend for any academic, but especially those who find themselves sitting with the problem of writing and what to do with it.