readorrot's review
4.0
I have to say, it's a little surreal reading Elbow argue for concepts of writing that come as second nature to me. While most of what he talks about in this book is stuff many of us now teach and learn about writing, I think it's still important to read it and see where the ideas started (at least in a formal sense). It's a nice piece of history.
markfeltskog's review
This is a book of some stature and is held in high esteem, so I suppose I commit something like heresy when I find myself mystified as to why--and articulate the question. Professor Elbow, if I understand him correctly, is a proponent of "process writing," which is all to the good. While I am in general skeptical of a pure process approach (for I am, alas, what some would call, hyperbolically, a "grammar nazi"), I see its merits. My problems with this book are twofold: first there is the argument about process writing, which I submit is overstated, and perhaps a bit too personalized (the upright pronoun is ubiquitous in this book) for my tastes. The second is that for such a slim volume about writing, there is an awful lot of prolixity afoot here.
All of this said, there is a section in the book in which Professor Elbow discusses process writing as a way of uncovering what one may not realize one has learned in a course--or in life for that matter. This is really a method of journal writing, and it is effective, I believe, in helping students get to the bottoms to their own understandings of how they understand what they learned in any setting. I think William Zinsser argued that case much more cogently in his book Writing to Learn.
All of this said, there is a section in the book in which Professor Elbow discusses process writing as a way of uncovering what one may not realize one has learned in a course--or in life for that matter. This is really a method of journal writing, and it is effective, I believe, in helping students get to the bottoms to their own understandings of how they understand what they learned in any setting. I think William Zinsser argued that case much more cogently in his book Writing to Learn.
jenlouden's review against another edition
5.0
A great book for improving your writing outside of workshops and MFA programs.
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