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The classic works on the art of nonfiction writing are now in a complete package for your listening pleasure.

This expanded CD collection presents William Zinsser's On Writing Well, the classic teaching book that has sold more than 1 million copies, together with a new 90-minute section that tells you how to write a memoir.

Based on a course that Zinsser taught at Yale, On Writing Well has long been praised by writers, teachers and students for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It's for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day. Whether you want to write about people and places, science and technology, business, sports or the arts, this is the definitive guide to the craft of nonfiction.

Part II of this collection -- on memoir, personal history and family history -- tells you in helpful detail how to write the story of your life: who you are, who you once were, and what heritage you come from. Throughout, Zinsser refers to the work of many successful memoir writers, including Frank McCourt, Annie Dillard, Russell Baker and Eudora Welty, to demonstrate how they solved the problems of selection, compression, focus and tone that every memoir writer struggles with.

Average Customer Rating:

Excellent content, engaging presentation	Customer Rating:
I've read several books on writing recently, and this one is the most engaging of them all. I couldn't help but smile as a read--a sure sign the author is doing a great job. Buy this book if you want to become a better writer.

More than back to basics	Customer Rating:
This book done taught me to write more better. :-) Seriously, I love this book. I have not looked at it since graduating more than a decade ago, and I purchased it expecting to brush up on the basics. It offers much more and is an engaging read. It has replaced novels on my bedside table for my evening unwind reading. It's a must-have.

If it's interesting, make it interesting. Don't clutter.

Customer Rating:

I love that Zinsser includes a draft with his edits on it. He advocates the sparcity of writing. Remove all excess words. Clean, crisp, clear. Prune ruthlessly. He does not romanticise writing, but enables you to just get on with it, and then severely edit to remove all extraneous material (like the latter phrase!) Some key points I enjoyed: - "If your job is to write every day, you learn to do it like any other job." - The reader has an attention span of 30 seconds. Don't make them word too hard. What do you want to say? Have you said it? - Be yourself. Relax and have confidence. Find the interesting and describe it. Leave out the mundane. Be curious. The truth is interesting. Write what you care about. - "You learn to write by writing. Force yourself to produce words on a regular basis." - Think small. Choose your section and cover it well. The detail matters. - "Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it's where the game is won or lost." He urges the power of being real, and writing your truth in the brilliance of this quote "Try to commit an act of writing and your readers will jump overboard to get away". You don't need to be a literary genius. Just get on with it (and then prune it!)

Inspiring and practical instruction on writing	Customer Rating:
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3SOY5891YP5FI This is by far the best book on writing any kind of non-fiction. He encourages you to be clear, and gives practical tips and instruction so that you feel that you know what good writing looks like. I'd also recommend Bird By Bird by Lamott for fiction writers, or anyone who needs moral support for the writing process.

Best of the best

Customer Rating:

William Zinsser's career as a nonfiction writer of over fifteen books spans decades. Among many impressive credentials, he taught writing at Yale and became general editor of the Book-of-the-Month club. He knows whereof he writes. On Writing Well is worth going over and over because it's so packed with good information that it would be impossible to truly take in everything during the first read. On every page, Zinsser urges writers to simplify and clarify, and he tells us how it's done. He never makes a point without supporting it with entertaining examples. He tells stories about his life and the lives of other writers, humorists, ball players, students, and politicians, mixing those stories with tales about adjectives, verbs, nouns, and phrases, until we feel affectionate admiration for the parts of speech. Zinsser's book made me think of the subtitle: Everything You've Always Needed to Understand About Writing but Didn't Know Enough to Ask. Fortunately for the reader, Zinsser does know--and shares what he knows.