8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Book that Really Works, August 4, 2001
This review is from: Better Handwriting 30 Days (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a wonderful book that really works. Every since I was an elementary school child I had been plagued by feelings of inferiority because of my atrocious handwriting. In my late teens, in an effort to solve this problem, I gave up cursive writing all together and tried block printing. This was slow and tedious and the results were scarcely more legible. My handwriting was still a joke, so bad that even I found it impossible to read.
Beautiful handwiting has always held a fascination with me and I love the simplicity of pencil or pen on paper. After frequent attempts to write more neatly however, I assumed that this was a skill that was beyond me: my poor handwriting was something I would have to live with. I did so - for many years.
In my late 30's I found this book in a second hand book shop and purchased it immediately. Improving my handwriting took longer than 30 days, but after half a year of practise I suddenly began to recieve compliments on my penmanship. The high point came when a student approached me after a class (I am a teacher) and mentioned how much she admired my writing.
Rather than stressing individual letters, Paula breaks down handwriting into a series of basic shapes and stresses rhythm instead. Students work at writing down a series of patterns such as "waves" or "hoops." I found performing these exercises to be enjoyable and relaxing and did most of my practise, about 10 minutes every day, during a series of tedious staff meetings. After 30 days there was definately some improvement but in my case several months were necessary before I could feel confident going public with my new skill.*
I wanted to buy a copy of this book for a friend and was shocked to see it was no longer in print. Someone should reprint it. I would like to use this message board to publicly thank Paula and commend her for being an excellent teacher.
(*Unfortunately my happiness was short lived. A year later I developed RSI from excessive computer use and this, of course, desroyed my ability to write.)
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Handwriting in a high tech world, September 16, 2001
This review is from: Better Handwriting 30 Days (Mass Market Paperback)
Despite all the hoopla surrounding the paperless society, I (and everyone I know that I have informally polled) find myself writing plenty for business and for pleasure. In fact, my motivation for purchasing and reading this book came from my children. They told me with that innocent honesty that they couldn't read the letters that I sent to camp for them. When I offered to type the letters, they told me that they would rather keep it the way it was, because they liked to get them even though they couldn't (save the oldest, who was recruited as translator) read them. I was struck with the truth; you give something extra of yourself when you write your own words in your own hand.
I found this to be the only book on the subject for adults at the local bookstore at that time. I read the introductory chapters with scepticism as it tried to point out the characteristics of handwriting that have been related to personality type, but that's my bias. It was entertaining enough otherwise, and there were some signatures of famous people that were interesting. The meat was next: 1)a discussion of why handwriting is generally done poorly in this country 2) a plan to improve handwriting by a combination of exercises. This book leaves you to design your own exercises within a general overall framework provided by the author. I was highly motivated, so that was enough for me. Others might have preferred a more step-by-step approach. I was introduced to an economical form of cursive writing and invited to incorporate aspects of it into my own style.
The result of my 30 day exploration was significant. Others at work who saw me doing the exercises on my free time became interested in the process. My handwriting improved in readability and style because of better small muscle function in my hand, but more because my perception of what constituted readable script had changed. My eye was interpreted my own handwriting differently. In the last 3 years, my handwriting remains much different and more easily read than before. The quality of my work in healthcare has improved because people read my handwriting without difficulty, and more of it gets read. And the kids can read what comes to camp.
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