Little Brown Handbook (Paperback)

~ (Author), Jane E. Aaron (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This has been 'our book' for many years; many people in the department have an emotional attachment to the book! I have taught English at this college for thirty-four years and The Little, Brown Handbook has been my closest companion. We work well together. " -Barbara H. Cole, Sandhills Community College "Established leader in the field. I don't know about other areas, but in the South, at most of the schools I have attended or have worked at or have heard about through friends and colleagues, LBH seems to be the most used handbook." -J. Lisa Ray, Thomas Nelson Community College "[Chapter 54, Essay Examinations] is such an excellent chapter it has a larger use than the one identified-this serves as a wonderful overview to writing any essay." -Peggy Cole, Arapahoe Community College "I love the fact that you have a section dedicated to the use and punctuation of in-text citations [in MLA style]. This is always an issue for my students." -Noelle Williams, San Jose State University "LBH promises an enjoyable writing experience on the very first page in the wit and charm of the opening paragraphs." --Diane Orsini, Valencia Community College-West --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"This has been 'our book' for many years; many people in the department have an emotional attachment to the book! I have taught English at this college for thirty-four years and The Little, Brown Handbook has been my closest companion. We work well together. "
–Barbara H. Cole, Sandhills Community College

"Established leader in the field. I don't know about other areas, but in the South, at most of the schools I have attended or have worked at or have heard about through friends and colleagues, LBH seems to be the most used handbook."
–J. Lisa Ray, Thomas Nelson Community College

"[Chapter 54, Essay Examinations] is such an excellent chapter it has a larger use than the one identified—this serves as a wonderful overview to writing any essay."
–Peggy Cole, Arapahoe Community College

"I love the fact that you have a section dedicated to the use and punctuation of in-text citations [in MLA style]. This is always an issue for my students."
–Noelle Williams, San Jose State University

"LBH promises an enjoyable writing experience on the very first page in the wit and charm of the opening paragraphs."
–Diane Orsini, Valencia Community College—West

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 53 pages
• Publisher: Not Avail; 8th edition (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201747111
• ISBN-13: 978-0201747119
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #605,013 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What else does a writer need?, June 6, 2000

By	David Bennett "www.ancient-future.net" (Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Little, Brown Handbook (Hardcover)

This handbook is all an aspiring writer needs to grasp the technical aspects of the English language. Virtually every nuance of English grammar is discussed at length, including the subjunctive mood (yes, English has one), and the Passive voice (yes, the one your English teacher always asked you not to use!). The book has 883 pages. I will value this even more when I go to graduate school next year.

Why is this book useful? Have you ever wanted to know how to correctly use question marks, commas, and quotation marks? Well, virtually every punctuation mark in existence is explained in the book. Typically rules of usage are given first, and then the explanation is followed by an example sentence. This format makes learning the concepts very easy.

There are also extremely helpful chapters on the use reasoning skills, reading and thinking critically, revising, editing, finding sources, and many, many more helpful topics. The book has sections on MLA, APA, CBE, and Chicago Styles of citing works. So whether you need to write a paper for a Psychology class or an English class, you can find help here. There are also tips included on how to do work in various fields, such as the humanities and social sciences. Another informative section is Glossary of Usage chapter. Included here are commonly misused words, and an explanation of their correct usage (and examples of such usage). For instance, did you know that "lay" is transitive and "lie" intransitive? Or did you know that the past participle form of "lie" is "I have lain?"

I could go on and on about what is included, but there is just so much, it would take more than a few pages! You will have to trust me that this book offers grammar tips, writing hints, citation methods, and other helpful tools. Here is a listing of the contents for all interested:

Preface for Instructors

Preface for Students: Using This Book Introduction: Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing

Pt. I The Whole Paper and Paragraphs

Pt. II Grammatical Sentences

Pt. III Clear Sentences

Pt. IV Effective Sentences

Pt. V Punctuation

Pt. VI Mechanics

Pt. VII Effective Words

Pt. VIII Research Writing

Pt. IX Special Writing Situations

App. A Document Format

App. B Writing with a Computer

App. C Oral Presentations, Glossary of Usage, Glossary of Terms

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good writers and composition handbook, April 28, 2006

By	Tony Thomas (SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Little, Brown Handbook, Ninth Edition (Hardcover)

I taught this book for three years at a community college. It was in between using two Diana Hacker books Rules for Writers and the Bedford Handbook.

For myself, this book is very comprehensive. If I could, I could have taught the entire course using this text, although our college requires an additional "reader." There are enough sample essays and other pieces in here that the reader portion could be done with this book. Its approach is encyclopedic to grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling problems.

I also found its section on composition essentials very well done, particularly chapter 4 on paragraphs. I found their explanation of how to do MLA papers and research papers in general quite useful.

Before we used this textbook, I would usually download supplementary information from net websites on paragraphing and MLA papers to fill in the gap between what students wanted to know and what the textbooks said on these and other subject. However, the Little,Brown Handbook was so full of information, that I did not have to do that during the years I used this book.

This is a good book if one is embarking on a serious campaign as a writer. When I was more active as a writer, I found that other writers and copy editors on publications I worked on continually stocked up on such books. These are the best places to look for clarification on problems of grammar, mechanicws, and usage. Surprisingly, even for the experienced degreed writer, what such books say about improving rhetoric or diction is often useful, the basics we can forget easily.
As such, even though our college has moved back to Hacker, I will keep it out as a reference for my own writing and editing.

Yet, as a text book for an individual composition course, its sixty dollar price, makes the book an outrageous drag on already emptied student pockets. The scandal of the price of university texts needs to be exposed and investigated.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential tool for all wordsmiths, not just students, March 1, 2005

By	Dr. Jeffrey O. Katz - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Little, Brown Handbook, Ninth Edition (Hardcover)

Although intended primarily for students, The Little Brown Handbook is an excellent reference for all nonfiction writers. While writing my own recent book on option pricing, I consulted it often regarding the use of colons, semicolons, dashes, and other fine points of punctuation. It even served as an arbiter of correct grammar and usage in the occasional dispute with my copy editor! Almost everything critical to good writing is covered--from organization, paragraph coherence, and sentence structure, to punctuation, word choice, and issues of style--and in sufficient detail to be useful to the working wordsmith. Guidelines for academic writers, a discussion of the American Psychological Association (APA) style employed in the social sciences, and suggestions for use of the internet in research, also appear in The Little Brown Handbook. All in all, this book should be found near the Strunk and White classic, The Elements of Style, on any writer's bookshelf. I would unhesitatingly recommend it to anyone who writes, either for pleasure or for a living.

Jeffrey Owen Katz, Ph.D.
Author (With Donna L. McCormick):
  "Advanced Option Pricing Models" (McGraw Hill, 2005)
  "The Encyclopedia of Trading Strategies" (McGraw Hill, 2000)