Hacker News Reader

Comment by idlewords | Hacker News Reader

The best guide I've ever read to writing nonfiction is William Zinsser's "On Writing Well". If you do any writing for work or pleasure, his advice is indispensable:

https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction...

View on HN

Completely agree. I learned more in 2 weeks of reading Zinsser than I did in 3 yrs of English at high school.

On Writing Well and Elements of Style were required reading in almost every English class I took. Sounds like you had some bad teachers.

It's not a part of our curriculum in the UK. I, and many others like me, had never heard of him before.

Completely agree. However I first read the Elements of Style. In 2 days of reading Strunk & White I unlearned 3 years of high school English. Later I read Zinsser and found him to be saying the same things. But a lot of people say that Zinsser's take is easier to read.

The 1-star reviews are more than a mite worrying.

https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction...

I tend to rely more on 1-star reviews than 5-star ones. I find them to be more reliable guides.

May I suggest that you write well in spite of the advice given here rather than because of it. :)

It's a really good book.

Okay, I'll give it a look-see. I didn't mean to be overly negative.

I tend to look at the percentage of ratings. Literally 1% of the book's reviews are 1-star reviews. Saying that 1% of 1-star ratings is "more than a mite worrying" seems overly negative to me. I'm genuinely interested in what you buy online if 1% of 1-star ratings immediately deters you.

What in the book, from your reading, is the bad advice?

I disagree with Zinsser about colons.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com