Archive

Book Reviews

• Dewdroppers, Waldos, and Slackers
  Dalya Goldberger reviews Rosemarie Ostler’s decade-by-decade guide to the vanishing vocabulary of the 20th century.
• The Meaning of Everything
  Gerry van Blokland reviews Simon Winchester’s new book on the making of that bastion of the English language — the Oxford English Dictionary.
• Journalism: Truth or Dare?
  Contributing Editor Lorie Boucher reviews Ian Hargreaves's book on how "journalism" became a dirty word and what's in store for the future of news media.
• A Matter of Style: On Writing and Technique
  Writer John Thurston reviews Matthew Clark’s book about style in language.
• Toothpick & Logos: Design in Everyday Life
  Graphic designer Gerry van Blokland reviews John Heskett’s book about design and how designers should channel their creative efforts toward solving everyday problems instead of wasting time on glitter and packaging.
• The Spirit of Writing: Classic and Contemporary Essays Celebrating the Writing Life
  Lorie Boucher reviews Mark Robert Waldman’s collection of essays on writing.
• Novel Ideas
  Terence Carter reviews Barbara Shoup and Margaret Love Denman’s book on novel writing.
• The Art of Nonfiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers
  Terry Walbert reviews Ayn Rand’s transcribed lectures on writing non-fiction. What he uncovers are a few new pieces of advice for non-fiction writers.
• A Magical Clockwork—The Art of Writing the Poem
  Author Susan Ioannou breaks down the mechanics of poetry into their simplest forms.
• Writing In Flow
  Susan K. Perry is the latest of a string of authors who have grabbed on to a new theory of writing called "flow" as a solution to overcoming common writing hurdles.
• Last Flesh: Life in the Transhuman Era
  Poet Christopher Dewdney seems to join the brotherhood of futurists with his third book of prose.
• Technologies of Knowing: A Proposal for the Human Sciences
  A "thought experiment" intended to show how, using current technologies, social science research could be made available for better use by the public that is largely responsible for funding it.
• Literacy Theory in the Age of the Internet
  One of the first collections of essays to address literacy theory since the Internet became a social phenomenon.
• the rise of the image the fall of the word
  Mitchell Stephens forecasts the replacement of the written word with video images.
• Crossing the Chasm
  Author Geoffrey A. Moore’s book examines the issues of marketing in the high-tech industry.
• Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace
  Discover author Janet Murray’s cultural approach to examining the social and personal significance of computer sciences.
• Understanding Writer’s Block: A Therapist’s Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment
  A writer’s perspective on a new book that aims to educate psychiatrists about writer’s block and how to treat it.
• Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity
  A collection of Ray Bradbury's essays on the craft of writing.
• The ABC's of Writing Fiction
  A new "how-to" book aimed at fiction writers.
• Write to Sell
  Ruth Wucherer's book on techniques writers can use to market non-fiction articles to magazines.
• If You Want to Write
  Brenda Ueland's book on overcoming anxieties associated with writing and "writer's block".
• The End of Work
  Jeremy Rifkin's book on the impact of technology on work processes.
• Technical Editing: The Practical Guide for Editors and Writers
  A "how-to" book aimed at editors and writers of technical documentation.
• Six Walks in the Fictional Woods
  Umberto Eco's book on narrative techniques used in fiction writing.
• The Games Treasury
  An anthology of games for the whole family.