Customer Reviews

The Art of Readable Writing

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This book first appeared in 1949. In 1974, Flesch revised it by writing postscripts to each chapter. Basically he denounced much of what he had written 25 years earlier. If you're interested in learning about Flesch's readablility formula, I suggest you buy his book How to Write, Speak, and Think More Effectively, which, incidentally, is still in print and provides a good introduction to Flesch's work. My advice is to buy (used) the following books by Flesch, none of which are in print: 1) How to Make Sense (1954), 2) The Art of Clear Thinking (1951), 3) The Art of Plain Talk (1946), 4) How to be Brief (1962), and 5) Say What You Mean (1972). If you're still set on buying The Art of Readable Writing, I recommend that you buy the 25th Anniversary Edition (1974) with Flesch's improvements and corrections. I think you'll find that his postscripts are far more interesting than the original text.

Contrary to the previous review's misinformation, this is not a book on penmanship, but a guide to improving your writing in the sense of composition. As such it is a worthwhile book, and worth your time, but probably only after you have finished with the Elements of Style.

I read this book nearly fifty years ago, when I was an undergraduate at Duke. At the time, I found it very helpful, and I believe it had a significant impact for the better on my writing style. This is not to say that my style is all that good, though I am sure that it would be considerably better if I had followed all of Flesh's advice. I am in the process of reading it again, together with a pair of internationals whom I am helping with their English. The thing I (and my brother) are finding is how dated the verbal illustrations and language are, now that the book (first published in 1949) is over sixty yers old!

Published in 1949. Flesch's ideas about the English language are fresh and casual. A few of his examples are dated: He warns about using slang terms, and uses 'Gone', meaning Very Good, as an example: "The apple pie is gone." "Good, give me some of that gone apple pie."

I gave this book to my little brother as a gift to improve his penmanship. Knowing that penmanship has alot to do with a persons attitude, i decided to try and change his penmanship because i couldnt change his attitude. This book has helped him tremendously. It did take some time and some practice, however, the results were well worth it.