How to Write: Communicating Ideas and Information (Paperback)

~ Herbert E. Meyer (Author), Jill M. Meyer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From The Washington Post

This little book is one of the more helpful guides for the beginning writer. It emphasizes good organization in getting started on a first draft, and gives clear, intelligent counsel on how to do this...Will surely help the young, the confused, and the struggling.

Review

It is hard to imagine a more practical how-to book on the subject of writing than the one turned out by this husband and wife team. The Meyers provide numerous clear and detailed guidelines that will be a godsend to the novice struggling with his/her first writing project, as well as a welcome aid to the more seasoned writer occasionally floundering about for just the right technique to develop an idea. -- Voice of Youth Advocates

Reading "How to Write" is like discovering the trick behind a magic act. Once the act is understood, it isn't nearly as awesome as it had seemed. It becomes almost easy to learn and execute. "How to Write" can be read in less than an hour and should be kept thereafter between the dictionary and the thesaurus. -- Harriet Gerard, Hearst Feature Service

Seamless, clear prose is what "How to Write" is about. Like Strunk's classic, "Elements of Style," and Fowler's masterful volume, "The King's English," the Meyer book is about common sense. -- Wesley Pruden, The Washington Times

This is the most helpful book the beginning writer can buy. -- William Safire, The New York Times

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Product Details

• Paperback: 110 pages
• Publisher: Storm King Pr (September 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0935166076
• ISBN-13: 978-0935166071
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #877,635 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential book for anyone who writes anything, January 9, 2002

By	Eddie Ginley "cityfolks" (New York City) - See all my reviews

How good is this book? After I read it, I immediately bought copies for everyone in the office. The Meyers breakdown of the writing process is a huge help for writing anything, including reports, fiction and even e-mail.
The book is easy, even fun, to read. It also adheres to the authors recommendations for conciseness, clarity, etc., which only adds to the authority of their advice.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Clear explanation of the basics., August 11, 2003

By	railmeat (Emeryville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

How to Write offers a clear explanation of how to produce any kind of written document. This slim ( 110 page ) book offers concise instructions with good examples of how to go about producing a good report, essay or article.

There is nothing new in this book. There really should not be. Everything in this book should have been covered in any high school English class. This book will be helpful for anyone how needs a refresher, or did not learn this when they should have. In my reading of business documents and some magazine articles I see a lot of documents that could have been improved by using the methods discussed in this text.

If this book can be criticized, it would be because it is too short. It only really covers basic ideas. The authors assume you are doing a few limited kinds of expository writing. However I consider that a strength. It keeps the book simple and to the point.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise and to the point, July 14, 2005

By	coffee_fan (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

I am an English as a second language speaker and this book helped me get closer to the simplicity and effectiveness in writing I have in my birth language.

The authors demystify into English a complex set of rules / language which were second nature to me in my mother tongue. Still, many of the principles outlined are independent of the language you write in. The exposition is clear and practical; writing becomes an iterative and progressive process.

One of the nice English specific little jewels is the difference between accuracy and precision exposed by the authors on page 67. For the technically inclined, an analogous comparison of accuracy versus precision exists in Wikipedia --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision.