- 10% Solution, The: Self-editing for the Modern Writer by Ken Rand (1998)
[6/10]
"In The 10% Solution, Ken Rand describes his theory for improved writing. First, you wear two hats: the writer's hat and the editor's hat. As a writer, you write quickly, without editorial criticism. As the editor, you revise and attempt to reduce the word count by 10%."
- Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt (1996)
[8/10]
"Frank McCourt tells his fascinating story of growing up in poverty-stricken Ireland."
- Art of Fiction, The: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner (1983)
[7/10]
"Much of this advice can be found in the myriad of books on writing, but often, since Gardner is teaching to the would-be literary writer, he has new ideas about how style and technique can be used to create specific effects that many how-to books never address."
- Ashley Book of Knots, The by Clifford W. Ashley (1944)
[8/10]
"If you have any serious aspirations about tying knots, then you must purchase The Ashley Book of Knots."
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (1994)
[7/10]
"Lamott focuses her advice on getting you in tune with your subconscious and on overcoming a lack of self-confidence."
- Book Reviewing (1978)
[5/10]
"Kamerman set out to provide advice to aspiring writers who want to publish book reviews. Book Reviewing succeeds in this attempt, but the advice feels stale once you have plodded through. I found myself wishing for advice directed at established writers."
- Books: From Writer to Reader by Howard Greenfeld (1989)
[6/10]
"Greenfeld provides a concise and up-to-date overview of the process of taking a book from the author's manuscript to a book on the shelves and all the processes in between."
- Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich (2002)
[6/10]
"The movie does a good job at recreating the emotional tension that Mezrich develops in the book. So, unless you have a keen desire to know the 'true story,' I think that the movie does in two hours what it takes the book 300 pages to produce. The book gives details like the fact that team gambles all over the country and not just in Vegas, but the movie condenses the emotional states that Mezrich wanted to convey into a much more intense experience."
- CGI Programming on the World Wide Web by Shishir Gundavaram (1996)
[7/10]
"This book offers a comprehensive explanation of the Common Gateway Interface (CGI). Nearly all of the examples in the book are Perl scripts, so you can use most of these examples directly on your server."
- CVS Pocket Reference by Gregor N. Purdy (2000)
[6/10]
"A handy and quick tool that answers almost all everyday questions a CVS user might have, but it probably doesn't give enough information for administrators."
- China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston (1980)
[6/10]
"The text is successful in questioning the myths that exits today about the Chinese Americans. It demonstrates how the Chinamen were a major work force in building the American West, and yet they are still viewed as outsiders that were trying to take advantage of the success that was built by people of European descent."
- Computer Crime: A Crimefighter's Handbook by David Icove, Karl Seger, William VonStorch (1995)
[6/10]
"This book describes how criminals can attack your network and how you can defend your network against such attacks."
- Designing Web Graphics by Lynda Weinman (1997)
[8/10]
"This book tells you everything you need to know to create online graphics."
- Digital Typography by Donald E. Knuth (1999)
[5/10]
"A historian of the TeX typesetting system might find this collection interesting, but most readers, even those avid about producing aesthetically pleasing type, will not find much of interest here."
- DocBook: The Definitive Guide by Norman Walsh, Leonard Muellner (1999)
[6/10]
"DocBook provides a markup language that tags text based on content rather than on final appearance."
- Don Quixote Meets the Mob: The Craft of Fiction and the Art of Life by Susan Taylor Chehak (2000)
[6/10]
"Chehak philosophically muses about fiction's role in the lives of both readers and writers, augmented again with personal anecdotes."
- Ed Parker's Infinite Insights into Kenpo by Ed Parker (1982)
[4/10]
"Parker sets out to explain the mental aspects behind his form of Kenpo Karate. He goes over this history of his form and makes some interesting points, but fails to create a coherent whole from the concepts he presents."
- Elements of Editing, The: A Modern Guide for Editors and Journalists by Arthur Plotnik (1997)
[8/10]
"The Elements of Editing provides an excellent overview of the editing business for the novice and a handy resource of information for the established editor. The bibliography and the many terms succinctly defined make this a valuable tool that should always be within reach from the editor's chair."
- Elements of Grammar, The by Margaret Shertzer (1986)
[4/10]
"For those who use the USGPO style manual, this may be a great quick reference, but anyone else should look to other sources for their information."
- Elements of Style, The by William Strunk Jr., Elwyn Brooks White, Charles Osgood (1979)
[7/10]
"Reading Strunk and White frequently will help keep your mind on track -- subconsciously alerting you to possible problems in your writing. Just be sure you know enough modern usage to be able to discern how much weight to give each rule."
- Embraced by the Light by Betty J. Eadie, Curtis Taylor (1992)
[5/10]
"Publicity for Embraced by the Light touts this book as the most complete life-after-death experience ever written, but as a Latter-day Saint, I found Eadie offered nothing new or surprising -- except for a few items that seemed in direct conflict with accepted doctrine."
- Encyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Rope Work by Raoul Graumont, John Hensel (1952)
[6/10]
"Beginning knot tiers will probably not find enough instruction in the text for tying the knots, and advanced knot tiers will want the more complete Ashley Book of Knots."
- Great Knots and How To Tie Them by Derrick Lewis (1998)
[5/10]
"Although you can find just about every knot you might need in Great Knots, you will probably want a guide with better instructions."
- Gung Ho! by Kenneth Blanchard, Sheldon M. Bowles (1997)
[4/10]
"Gung Ho presents sound management principles, but do you really need to go to the woods and study 'the spirit of the squirrel' to understand that employees need to believe they participate in worthwhile work."
- HTML: The Definitive Guide by Chuck Musciano, Bill Kennedy (1998)
[9/10]
"This book describes every feature of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) -- such as cascading style sheets, forms, tables, and frames--and all of the extensions to HTML that are included in Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer."
- Handbook of Information Security Management (1993)
[8/10]
"This book covers nearly every managerial and technical aspect of computer security, including establishing a security program, conducting a risk assessment, developing a contingency plan, writing a network security policy, establishing security awareness, and designing a secure network."
- Handbook of Knots, The by Des Pawson (1998)
[8/10]
"The Handbook of Knots provides instructions for most of the knots you would ever need, except for some camping knots (like the tautline hitch) and knots for anglers."
- Hot Sauces by Jane Stacey (2000)
[5/10]
"The hot sauce connoisseur will not find enough new to make this book worthwhile, but the newcomer might find this a handy resource for experimenting with various styles of sauce."
- How to Get Happily Published: A Complete and Candid Guide by Judith Applebaum (1998)
[4/10]
"If you want to learn how to be a better writer, get some other book that specializes in the genre in which you want to write. If you want to learn about publishing, then get a book that specializes in the aspects of publishing. But don't buy this book unless you are really desperate to read from one more source that 'you can do it if you try hard enough.'"
- How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card (1990)
[9/10]
"Card does for science fiction and fantasy what Rust Hills does for the short story as a form in Writing in General and the Short Story in Specific."
- In the Beginning . . . Was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson (1999)
[5/10]
"An interesting personal essay that documents Stephenson's personal choice for his computer operating system, explaining his progression from raw command line, to Macintosh, to Linux, and finally to BeOS."
- Information Security Policies Made Easy by Charles Cresson Wood (1996)
[7/10]
"If writing a network security policy seems like a daunting task, this book is for you: It includes more than 700 ready-to-use network security policies."
- Instant Java by John A. Pew (1997)
[5/10]
"If you want to create dynamic HTML elements such as animated text and graphics, slide shows, and audio clips, you will find everything you need in this book, including complete Java programs on a CD-ROM."
- James A. Michener's Writer's Handbook by James A. Michener (1992)
[6/10]
"This book provides a valuable example to authors and editors that everyone should strive for the best a manuscript can be, without any hard feelings about the amount of red ink on the pages."
- Java 1.1: The Complete Reference by Patrick Naughton, Herbert Schildt (1997)
[7/10]
"If you want to learn how to use Java, this book is an excellent resource."
- Java Class Libraries, The: An Annotated Reference by Patrick Chan, Rosanna Lee (1996)
[8/10]
"The Java Class Libraries: An Annotated Reference includes detailed descriptions of all of the Java class libraries and hundreds of sample programs showing you how to implement various features of the objects and methods found in these class libraries."
- JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan (1998)
[7/10]
"JavaScript: The Definitive Guide thoroughly describes the JavaScript language. Nearly every page includes sample code that illustrates each aspect of JavaScript."
- Metafont Book, The by Donald E. Knuth (1986)
[5/10]
"Dr. Knuth's Metafont system tries to do for fonts what his TeX typesetting system did for setting type."
- Minutes of the Lead Pencil Club (1996)
[4/10]
"Instead if inspiring me to join their cause, Minutes of the Lead Pencil Club made me want to respond to these whiny voices with, 'Oh, cry me a river.'"
- Network and Internet Security by Vijay Ahuja (1996)
[6/10]
"A detailed introduction to network security concepts and terminology, Network and Internet Security explains current network security threats and the existing and emerging technologies that address these threats."
- Novell's Guide to Integrating NetWare and TCP/IP by Drew Heywood (1996)
[8/10]
"This comprehensive book describes the basic and advanced concepts of TCP/IP and explains every option for implementing TCP/IP on a NetWare network. Although this book focuses on NetWare 4, the information applies to IntranetWare as well."
- On Moral Fiction by John Gardner (1978)
[5/10]
"I get the feeling that John Gardner is an elitist snob who has a very narrow definition of art."
- On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser (1994)
[8/10]
"Zinsser urges writers to create simple, elegant sentences. If it is not a sentence you wouldn't say to your friends over lunch, then you probably shouldn't write it in your article."
- Programming Perl by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, Randal L. Schwartz (1996)
[8/10]
"Programming Perl is the authoritative work on using the Perl language, which you would expect since Larry Wall, the inventor of Perl, is one of the authors."
- Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook: The Professional Writer's Guide to Writing Professionally (1990)
[7/10]
"The handbook picks up where all the how-to-write books leave off. It assumes that the reader has the skills and potential to become a professional and gives detailed advice on contracts, copyrights, payments and royalties, self-promotion, agents, and many other aspects of the writing business."
- Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $85,000 a Year by Robert W. Bly (1988)
[6/10]
"Robert Bly emphasizes that you don't have to write the great American novel to make a lot of money as a writer. Businesses need all kinds of writing and are usually willing to pay well for good writing."
- Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown, Dave King (2004)
[8/10]
"Renni Brown and Dave King reiterate all this advice, but then move into a lot of new territory."
- Seven Types of Ambiguity by William Empson (1947)
[6/10]
- So, You Wanna Be a Comic Book Artist?: How to Break into Comics! The Ultimate Gide for Kids by Philip Amara (2001)
[5/10]
"In reading So, You Wanna Be a Comic Book Artist?, I got that same feeling that I had heard all this advice before, and I realized that the advice you give to a writer or an illustrator probably applies to just about any creative endeavor."
- Storyteller in Zion, A: Essays and Speeches by Orson Scott Card (1993)
[6/10]
"Scott Card brings together several articles and speeches in which he discusses Mormonism from his perspective as a writer (more from the perspective of a well-know and wealthy writer)."
- Structuring Your Novel: From Basic Idea to Finished Manuscript by Robert C. Meredith, John D. Fitzgerald (1993)
[7/10]
"Structuring Your Novel focuses on advice for beginning writers who have never completed a novel and provides excellent advice that helps focus attention on the work of writing and producing a saleable novel from the ground up."
- Te of Piglet, The by Benjamin Hoff (1992)
[4/10]
"The use of A. A. Milne's endearing characters to promote a political agenda degrades both the characters and the agenda."
- TeXbook, The by Donald E. Knuth (1984)
[6/10]
"The TeXbook describes Dr. Knuth's unique solution to the problem of computer typesetting."
- Underground Guide to Computer Security, The by Michael Alexander (1995)
[7/10]
"An excellent (and funny) introduction to security for personal and small-business computing, The Underground Guide to Computer Security includes a chapter that focuses on writing a network security policy."
- Web Concept and Design: A Comprehensive Guide to Creating Effective Web Sites by Crystal Waters (1996)
[8/10]
"This book outlines the steps of creating a user interface, explains how to lay out page elements using grids, and describes how to use storyboards to plan an intranet site."
- Web Sites That Work by Roger Black, Sean Elder (1997)
[9/10]
"Roger Black made his mark in the design world through accomplishments such as being the art director of Rolling Stone and the design director of New York Magazine and Newsweek. Black has now turned his attention to designing Internet sites and has found that most of the tried-and-true elements of print design still work."
- Weight Training: Steps to Success by Thomas R. Baechle, Barney R. Groves (1992)
[5/10]
"Weight Training has all the information one needs to begin using weights no matter what the goal: increased muscle tone, body sculpting, or increased strength."
- Write It Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults by Ambrose Bierce (1986)
[3/10]
"I would not recommend this book to any looking for a modern usage guide. In fact, I don't see a good reason to recommend Write it Write, except to linguists studying changes in English."
- Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy (1991)
[7/10]
"I wouldn't put this on a must read list unless you haven't read more than three other how-to-write books. (And if you have, you should spend more time writing and not reading about writing.)"
- Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular by Rust Hills (1987)
[9/10]
"Hills organized his personal ponderings and observations about the short story from his years of experience as an editor into this concise reference about the short story as a literary form."
- Writing the Novel: From Plot to Print by Lawrence Block (1979)
[7/10]
"Probably one of the most practical guides about writing that I have seen."
- Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity by Ray Bradbury (1989)
[6/10]
"Zen in the Art of Writing is an interesting examination of Ray Bradbury's belief that implementing some Zen philosophy leads to better writing. As one of the great writers of the 20th century, we certainly should pay attention to his thoughts, but we should also remember that he presents only a self-examination that may not serve many other writers."
Average score: 6.35
