Buy new:
$13.49
FREE delivery: Monday, April 1 on orders over $35.00 shipped by Amazon.
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
List Price: $18.99 Details

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Save: $5.50 (29%)
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Monday, April 1 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 5 hrs 13 mins
In Stock
$$13.49 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$13.49
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime
FREE delivery Wednesday, April 3 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 10 hrs 28 mins
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: Book in good condition. Cover is in good condition. Binding is good. No writing in book. Ships direct from Amazon!
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Writing About Your Life: A Journey into the Past Paperback – March 10, 2005

4.6 out of 5 stars 286

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$13.49","priceAmount":13.49,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"13","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"49","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"bY9RRT1%2BBNJrPqH5zNCCN2JJ5eog46MZJZuRnbMJLY7H218V5tW3ARhs8so%2F8KcPdsttdKFQHcq0QJyGNopnEAtVekpLHrSrNqzsukS7rOx22jKq%2Fq59ntTOs2%2Fbl7sulI34wAVXoZg%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$10.99","priceAmount":10.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"10","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"bY9RRT1%2BBNJrPqH5zNCCN2JJ5eog46MZ8UqhO%2B3m3fD6RSAWvGe3Umjp8Q5btIhT5BYP5WW2Wtx4L7EuWVThKk819%2BB%2BjAjhH19vwNwo3m%2BPCUtYLSkqjxuUdcYqtXLLd%2B9MPhvAQyVc5OKatN1iK8jCB6Vpgb%2FELSRyvBgT364lpSC%2Fyj2sfR%2BLL96dm%2BE7","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons


Books with Buzz
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more

Frequently bought together

$13.49
Get it as soon as Monday, Apr 1
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
$12.29
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
$10.99
Usually ships within 3 to 5 days
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"William Zinsser is a born teacher. This book, full of charm and ingenuity, cannot fail to delight and instruct the would-be writer of personal narrative."

About the Author

William Zinsser began his career with the New York Herald Tribune and wrote regularly for leading magazines. His seventeen books, in addition to On Writing Well, include Writing to Learn, American Places, Mitchell & Ruff: An American Profile in Jazz, and Easy to Remember: The Great American Songwriters and Their Songs. He taught writing at Yale and at the New School. William Zinsser died in 2015.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Da Capo Press (March 10, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1569243794
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1569243794
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.9 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 286

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
William Zinsser
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

William Zinsser, a writer, editor, and teacher, is a fourth-generation New Yorker, born in 1922. His 18 books, which range in subject from music to baseball to American travel, include several widely read books about writing.

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, first published in 1976, has sold almost 1.5 million copies to three generations of writers, editors, journalists, teachers and students.

Writing to Learn which uses examples of good writing in science, medicine and technology to demonstrate that writing is a powerful component of learning in every subject.

Writing Places, a memoir recalling the enjoyment and gratitude the places where William Zinsser has done his writing and his teaching and the unusual people he encountered on that life journey.

Mr. Zinsser began his career in 1946 at the New York Herald Tribune, where he was a writer, editor, and critic. In 1959 he left to become a freelance writer and has since written regularly for leading magazines. From 1968 to 1972 he was a columnist for Life. During the 1970s he was at Yale, where, besides teaching nonfiction writing and humor writing, he was master of Branford College. In 1979 he returned to New York and was a senior editor at the Book-of-the-Month Club until 1987, when he went back to freelance writing. He teaches at the New School and at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is an adviser on writing to schools, colleges, and other organizations. He holds honorary degrees from Wesleyan University, Rollins College, and the University of Southern Indian and is a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library.

William Zinsser's other books include Mitchell & Ruff, a profile of jazz musicians Dwike Mitchell and Willie Ruff; American Places, a pilgrimage to 16 iconic American sites; Spring Training, about the spring training camp of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1988; and Easy to Remember: The Great American Songwriters and Their Songs; and he is the Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir. A jazz pianist and songwriter, he wrote a musical revue, What's the Point, which was performed off Broadway in 2003.

Mr. Zinsser lives in his home town with his wife, the educator and historian Caroline Zinsser. They have two children, Amy Zinsser, a business executive, and John Zinsser, a painter and teacher.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
286 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2005
106 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2018
9 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2013
4 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2014
15 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2016
41 people found this helpful
Report

Top reviews from other countries

A. Strasser
1.0 out of 5 stars The Book Doesn't Keep Its Promise
Reviewed in Germany on July 14, 2019
One person found this helpful
Report
Dianne Hardwick
5.0 out of 5 stars basically confidence building.
Reviewed in Australia on March 11, 2023
PattyLynn
5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly, a page turner
Reviewed in Canada on November 17, 2013
6 people found this helpful
Report
The Evil Baron Pete
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 30, 2014
edward mccann
5.0 out of 5 stars FIRST CLASS TEACHER
Reviewed in Canada on July 16, 2015