Review: The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century

The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book serves two distinct purposes. First, it is a style manual of the modern kind. Second, it is a book about linguistics.

In serving these dual purposes, the book becomes a fun and interesting read. Full of linguistic curiosities and ideas, information and stories, Sense of Style is a fascinating style guide because of how the practical information comes from science and history. It is unlike any style guide I've read before.

In absolute terms, it's also probably the best one. All its tips are based in logic, powerful and well-explained. They're basic things to keep in mind, and they absolutely help. There are other guides that have made more of an impact to me personally, but I would not hesitate in saying that this is the most broadly useful style guide I've read.

If you wanna write better, you can't go wrong with this. If you don't wanna write better, then consider reading it anyway and you might change your mind.

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