Book Review #3
Book Review
Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
Written by Benjamin Dreyer
If you are looking for a newer, fresher guide to the English language, this might be something to read. Dreyer is the Copy Chief of Random House, which gives him ample credibility to the wisdom and advice he offers. This book becomes a first step into the mind of a copy editor for multiple forms of writing. A lot of the information in this book serves as great advice and a springboard into other resources that Dreyer heartily recommends.
There is a lot of information to take in with this book. Its two sections (and thirteen chapters) cover a lot of material. The first section, "The Stuff in the Front," goes into detail about various style suggestions that you may want to consider on a basic level. Things such as punctuation; the rules and nonrules; and how to write foreign words in your work are critical for everything from flash fiction to novellas, from biographies to tweets. The other section of the book, "The Stuff in the Back," offers basic advice that dips into the deeper waters of English. This section includes a chapter on trimmable phrases and my favorite chapter, "Peeves and Crotchets." Trust me, it is worth the read.
In the end...
PROS
- Great advice for writing from a credible authority
- Covers a lot of newer situations in writing, such as tweets (especially in the latter section)
- Urges you to use other suggested resources instead of relying on the book alone.
CONS
- Anecdotes in this book feel a bit out of place. Personally would have preferred that these were not as prevalent.
- Attempts to be humorous in the book fall a bit flat for me. This might be due to the fact that humor does not translate as well for me on the page, especially of a book that's supposed to be more about the advice given than anything else.
- I would highly recommend taking a longer time than I did to read this book. I only read it in a week and a half; it left me feeling bogged down with information. Even at that pace though, it was a lot to read with the added anecdotes.
Would I recommend it?
I would recommend it, but only if you feel you need it. If you want to just have it for the sake of having it, then it will provide little. Definitely not a coffee table book, nor a book to just have in your library to look intelligent or smug. It needs to be used and referenced frequently.