Customer Reviews

The Norton Sampler, Sixth Edition

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought The Norton Sampler for an English 101 course at a community college. Amazon's price was the same as a used edition from my college bookstore, so I opted for the new version. I usually don't mind reading textbooks for classes, but I liked this one enough that I have read it purely for enjoyment.

The first two essays by Annie Dillard were a perfect introduction; it was helpful to read her final essay as well as the story behind it. I truly learned by example, as is the book's intention, and Dillard's vivid details covering inspiration, writing, and editing set the tone for the rest of the book. I did not enjoy every essay as much as the first two, but the variety of samples presented gave me a good idea of why I liked certain ones. Some essays are written by students, others by famous authors, and the essays are grouped together by type. An essay by Isaac Asimov is featured in the Definition category; one by David Sedaris is grouped with Compare and Contrast essays. Each category has a small section defining the type of essay which include example writing assignments and common applications for the essay type. The author, Thomas Cooley, includes a short intro for each essay and several questions, some for discussion, some for writing. The questions were often thought-provoking and covered the philosophical to the grammatical. I questioned my feelings towards the opinions stated in the essays and also why certain words or phrases were used. I recommend this book to anyone that usually enjoys anthologies, short stories, or essays, not just students and teachers.

Norton Readers have long been a staple of university literature and composition courses, which is no doubt the original purpose of this volume (hence the extended title, "Short Essays for Composition"). If you don't let this deter you, you will be rewarded with a collection of some of the best of American essays with a plus. This is not only a collection of well written essays spanning early and modern nonfiction, but you have the bonus of modern prose stylists such as Annie Dillard and Barry Lopez talking about the pieces that are included: how they get ideas, how they craft their work, why they write in nonfiction. A satisfying and interesting collection, well worth reading and passing along to others. Great for teachers and students interested in learning about nonfiction as well, as nonfiction as a genre is the organizing schema of this volume.

A collection of essays assembled by type and style of writing.
The book instruvts how to write common essay types by presenting the reader with a few examples of each kind. The cool part is the commentary by the authors of some of the essays as to what they were thinking when they wrote them and how they went about the writing process.

Good use for an Intro to Writing college level class.

The book was what was ordered and shipping was within time listed but felt the shipping should have been quicker ... 15 days is too long to ship. I sent an email asking about shippment and was never answered. I ended up receiving the book before I was notified it had been sent. I was notified it was sent several days after I received it. Seems to be some issues there.

This book was advertised as having some writing in it but boy was that an understatement!! Mostly pencil writing (wonder why they didn't just erase it?) but also highlighting on almost every page.

Book was needed for my college attending son's class. Works great for him and I got to pay less than what the bookstore charged.

This book was required for my English class and I did not want to pay the high prices the school book store sold it at. Amazon was much cheaper and the book arrived on time and in mint condition

I really enjoyed most of the essays in this book. It was a good samples and groups them according to the type of essay they are. I would love to even have it explain why some of those essays are the type they are as i had a hard time with some of them.