Review: ‘On Writing Well’ by William Zinsser

People who write for a living (newspaper reporters and columnists, for example) will find this book to be of value, but it also has much to offer for people in any vocation that requires effective communication.

If you think clearly, you can write clearly, argues Mr. Zinsser, and then explains, step-by-step, how to do so.

Mr. Zinsser writes with a very engaging and approachable style. With the book now in its sixth edition, he has had considerable time to improve his delivery. The end result is a book that is very entertaining, as well as a valuable resource.

I have only one disagreement with Mr. Zinsser, and that is when he states, "Unlike medicine or the other sciences, writing has no new discoveries to spring on us. We're in no danger of reading in our morning newspaper that a breakthrough has been made in how to write a clear English sentence."

In my opinion, the English language is constantly evolving. Maybe sentence structure will remain the same, but our vocabulary will continually change as new words enter the language as slang and later become accepted terms.

Could anyone have imagined that "granny flat" would become part of our language? Or how about the examples that Mr. Zinsser cites in recounting his experiences upon the usage panel for the American Heritage Dictionary --"rambunctious," "trigger," "rile," "shambles," "tycoon," "trek" and "escalate."

Posted June 15, 2001 to amazon.com

Lake County Record-Bee sold to California Newspapers Partnership

Big news in this morning’s paper: at work yesterday, Times Publishing CEO Michael Mead announced the sale of the Lake County Record-Bee, the Clear Lake Observer American, Willits News and Penny Slaver to California Newspapers Partnership. The conglomerate it’s part of, MediaNews Group, is the fifth largest in the country.

CNP’s Northern Division alone includes: Eureka Times-Standard, Tri-City Weekly, Ukiah Daily Journal, Hometown Shopper, Mendocino Beacon, Fort Bragg Advocate News, Oakland Times-Herald, Marin Independent Journal, The Oakland Tribune, Pacifica Tribune, San Mateo County Times, The Daily Review in Hayward, The Argus in Fremont, Tri-Valley Herald in Pleasanton, The Milpitas Post, Daily News in Red Bluff, Chico Enterprise-Record, Mercury Register in Oroville and The Daily Democrat in Woodland.

100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature

If you are a wholehearted proponent of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, this is a book you will find it absolutely essential to own.

Nicholas Karolides, Margaret Bald and Dawn Sova have compiled censorship histories of 100 books that have been suppressed on political, religious, sexual or social grounds, and they are truly eye-opening. Many of these books have been censored within our own country, where freedom of speech is supposedly protected by the First Amendment.

Under the category of religious censorship, not only have documents challenging the major world religions' accepted beliefs come under fire, but these religions' essential works -- the Bible, the Koran and the Talmud -- have also been suppressed at some point in history.

Works suppressed on sexual grounds run the gamut from mild language or situations to depictions of explicitly violent and humiliating sexual acts. While I find the latter absolutely abhorrent and choose not to expose myself to this type of content, 100 Banned Books is a valuable reminder that, regardless of your personal opinion of what is not appropriate, it is all to easy to cross over the line and try to deny others access to these materials.

Read this book to familiarize yourself with past instances of censorship, and then look in present-day society for examples of ongoing censorship attempts. The results will truly be eye-opening.

Posted Dec. 16, 2000 to amazon.com

Review: The Day They Came to Arrest the Book

Oh, how disappointed I am that my search on Hentoff revealed that Free Speech for Me But Not for Thee is out of print! Thank God The Day They Came to Arrest the Book is still readily available.

I purchased the two books together, years ago, at a bookstore in Angwin, Calif., and read them consecutively. Taken together, the books provided my first real understanding of the First Amendment and the way it is presently interpreted -- and challenged -- in our present-day society.

I was not surprised that another reviewer uses The Day They Came to Arrest the Book as an introduction to censorship in an eighth-grade class. Written as a novel for young readers, Hentoff's book presents very adult concepts -- censorship and perceptions of racism and sexism -- in a very easy-to-understand way, but without insulting the intelligence of his young readers.

The story may be fictional -- students and parents upset at what they believe to be racist and sexist content in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn challenge its place in the curriculum at George Mason High School -- but the incidents described within have happened more often than could reasonably be expected in a society that includes the First Amendment within its most sacred governing document.

The book tackles the issue of censorship very well -- this is Hentoff, after all -- and all of the characters are presented sympathetically. The people who want to censor Huckleberry Finn may be wrong to do so, but they are motivated by good intentions, however misdirected.

Posted Dec. 2, 2000 to amazon.com

Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

No doubt about it, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books DO get better and better with each volume. No. 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is going to be a tough act to follow, and I am already looking forward to No. 5.

I've never been able to see any merit in the opinion that so-called children's books cannot be read and enjoyed by adults. The Harry Potter series is a perfect example of fine literature that can be enjoyed by all ages.

With each book, Harry and his companions age one year. As they get older, their perspectives gain in maturity. The writing becomes more mature in keeping with the characters' development. Book 4, in my opinion, is already at or above the reading level of some adults. My husband and I have worked to cultivate rich vocabularies, and we had to look up a couple of words in the dictionary.

The books also take on more and more complex themes: Like the non-magic world, the wizarding community has its prejudice -- expressed not in terms of skin pigmentation but of magical parentage (Witches and wizards who come from Muggle families are termed "Mudbloods" by pure-blooded magic users). What better way to introduce children to the concept of prejudice, and in a way that makes abundantly clear that it is wrong and inexcusable?

Some of the moral issues explored by Harry and his peers are still being wrestled with by adults. From Book 3, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, one such moral dilemma comes to mind -- When are extreme punishments appropriate, and for what crimes?

Something is noticeably different in No. 4 in comparison with the three previous books -- for some reason, the American publishers decided to leave all the British slang intact. Generally, I was able to deduce the meaning through context, but if you find this difficult, a query on "British English" turned up several dictionaries of British slang available through Amazon.com.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire marks a midway point in the entire series, planned to be seven volumes altogether. The book also introduces themes that will carry over in a successive volume or volumes. J.K. Rowling has handled this well, creating a book that concludes the year's episode neatly but that raises compelling issues that this reader is eagerly awaiting further developments in.

As I have said before, I do not feel Ms. Rowling's books promote the occult. The fantastic circumstances of being witches and wizards are there, but the good characters really do embody many positive traits of humanity. These are still children, however, and they have the flaws and preoccupations that children of their age have naturally. Whatever the age of the reader, these books have a great deal to offer, and I strongly recommend them.

Posted Oct. 9, 2000 to amazon.com