Three Book Reviews

 

Today I am reviewing three books that include the topics of writing and editing to help you know if you might want to read these books. 

The first book I will review is The Workplace Writer's Process by Anne Janzer. This book is intended, as the title suggests, for workplace writers. Its purpose is to help workplace writers write more effectively. Janzer realizes that workplace writing has many challenges, and she seeks to help with those challenges. She does so quite effectively. Janzer discusses writing for cognitive ease, and the reader can see that she lives by her own rules because her book is easy to read. She uses white space effectively, and she explains concepts clearly. One chapter entitled "Process is your secret weapon" describes a process that will inevitably help workplace writers, especially when they are working with other coworkers. Janzer describes what should be done before any writing is done and what should be done before reviews and approvals. Janzer says that using a process "is the best path to consistent success and productive output." I would recommend this book.

The second book is A World Without Whom by Emmy J. Favilla. The purpose of this book is to teach people about contemporary writing in an entertaining way. Favilla shares selections from BuzzFeed's style guide in an effort to help writers navigate the ever-changing world of the internet. Favilla helps explain her purpose when she says, "There's ... value in pragmatic style advice you wouldn't find in APS or a standard dictionary, about the kind of language people actually use in real life and on the internet." She says it is her "duty to strike a balance between" the tone people use in everyday speech and  upholding "certain standards." She does not limit her advice to professionals; she gives advice that could be used in many situations by anyone communicating via the internet, including those composing texts and emails. One of the downsides of this book is that it is somewhat difficult to find information, even with the table of contents at the beginning. A reader must often read through pages of Favilla's opinions and experiences to find the advice they may be looking for. These pages can be entertaining, but more often than not, her humor includes quite a bit of swearing and/or suggestive jokes, so I would not recommend this book to anyone who is not interested in reading those kinds of things. In my opinion, Favilla's book would be more effective if she had a more comprehensive table of contents. It would be helpful to include all the headings from each chapter under the chapter name. 

The third book is The Great Typo Hunt by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson. The intent of this book is to educate people about grammar and communication issues while entertaining its audience at the same time. The audience is anyone interested in proper grammar. This could include someone who wants to get better at grammar or someone who wants to help educate others. This is made clear by the fact that Deck explains common mistakes and how to fix them (for those who want to get better) and by the fact that one of Deck's themes is changing the world for the better (education). Deck's writing is creative and humorous, but his subject matter gets somewhat repetitive. He details his cross-country journeys fixing typos, and although something unexpected happens near the end, the plot in this book is lacking. This is made up to some degree by Deck's skill with words, but not completely. I would say his book is mostly effective, but some may not finish the book because of the repetitive nature of the chapters. I would recommend this book to those who want to learn more or read more about common typo errors in an unconventional format, but I would add the caveat that the book is not really a page-turner.