Reviews
Writing to Learn: How to Write--And Think--Clearly about Any Subject at All by William Zinsser
suyogketkar's review against another edition
4.0
Basically, it isn't a must-read but still full of invaluable stuff.
The work is full of masterful reference-worthy material from disparate sources, which is precisely what the author had wanted. But I wanted to read more of Willian Zinsser in the book rather than those excerpts. He is a master when it comes to writing, and unlike his other works, this one lacked that tightness of content.
It still is an excellent read, for the content is worth its attention; William has been successful in bringing to us gems from his collection.
The work is full of masterful reference-worthy material from disparate sources, which is precisely what the author had wanted. But I wanted to read more of Willian Zinsser in the book rather than those excerpts. He is a master when it comes to writing, and unlike his other works, this one lacked that tightness of content.
It still is an excellent read, for the content is worth its attention; William has been successful in bringing to us gems from his collection.
ditorelo's review against another edition
5.0
I very much enjoyed this book and felt enriched by it. As a ESOL person, having someone comment on what great writing looks like (and how it help us learn more) was a nice treat.
shortthoughts's review against another edition
4.0
Good stuff from Zinsser, as expected. He explores the role of writing across various academic disciplines and concludes that writing can help lead to clear thinking and clear thinking leads to clear writing.
travelgirlut's review against another edition
4.0
Another excellent book by Zinsser about the art of writing. This one focuses on how writing helps you to think clearly, helps you to organize your ideas, shows you what you know and what you still need to learn, and introduces you to new areas of knowledge, and then shows how this method works in all areas of learning not just the language arts.
The first half of the book talks about the method and how it was applied in various settings, also how it helped Zinsser himself to get over his fears of certain subjects.
The second half of the book is a selection of examples of excellent writing, since the way to learn to write well is to model your writing off of someone else's good writing. I was surprised at the modernity of the examples. I expected there to be examples from the ancient world, but Zinsser stuck to writers current to himself.
The one chapter that seemed misplaced was the one about writing in math. Where the other subject chapters were showcasing writing samples, the math chapter was more of a how-to with the samples coming from high school student writings. It seems like this chapter would have been better in the first half of the book with the rest of the "how it all works" chapters and then in the second half include some writings from more eminent mathematicians.
Zinsser is thoroughly quotable. I could fill this review with pearls of wisdom, but I will refrain and just choose a few of my favorites.
"I don't like to write, but I take great pleasure in having written." This gives me such a boost to know that even a professional writer doesn't love to write!
"The hard part isn't the writing; the hard part is the thinking." Without clear thoughts you can't write well.
"That what we want to do we will do well." Enthusiasm is critical to writing well, which is why allowing students to write on other topics other than English can bring out the writer in them.
I will definitely be applying the ideas in this book to all of my kids' subjects this next school year. Writing across the curriculum for the win!
The first half of the book talks about the method and how it was applied in various settings, also how it helped Zinsser himself to get over his fears of certain subjects.
The second half of the book is a selection of examples of excellent writing, since the way to learn to write well is to model your writing off of someone else's good writing. I was surprised at the modernity of the examples. I expected there to be examples from the ancient world, but Zinsser stuck to writers current to himself.
The one chapter that seemed misplaced was the one about writing in math. Where the other subject chapters were showcasing writing samples, the math chapter was more of a how-to with the samples coming from high school student writings. It seems like this chapter would have been better in the first half of the book with the rest of the "how it all works" chapters and then in the second half include some writings from more eminent mathematicians.
Zinsser is thoroughly quotable. I could fill this review with pearls of wisdom, but I will refrain and just choose a few of my favorites.
"I don't like to write, but I take great pleasure in having written." This gives me such a boost to know that even a professional writer doesn't love to write!
"The hard part isn't the writing; the hard part is the thinking." Without clear thoughts you can't write well.
"That what we want to do we will do well." Enthusiasm is critical to writing well, which is why allowing students to write on other topics other than English can bring out the writer in them.
I will definitely be applying the ideas in this book to all of my kids' subjects this next school year. Writing across the curriculum for the win!
deletosh's review against another edition
4.0
As a huge fan of William Zinsser, this book doesn't disappoint on allow you to look at other subject, learning from it via writing.
It covers a range of interesting disciple, more as a memoir than an how-to.
It covers a range of interesting disciple, more as a memoir than an how-to.
cassandrat's review against another edition
2.0
TLDR: I was already convinced of the main points, writing is thinking, writing is for everyone, we should teach writing, before borrowing this book from the library. I wanted some more reflection on the process of writing as thinking. My engineering conditioning prevents me from spending the time pouring through all of the anecdotes to get the nuggets that might be generalizable. I can find them in other books, like Write to Learn by Donald M. Murray. There are a couple chapters I will photocopy/take notes from.
I'm still left with the question: What constitutes as writing?
I'm still left with the question: What constitutes as writing?