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 Let's Read first, Review Next May 21, 2008
15 out of 18 found this review helpful
You'll find plenty of factoids (actually, according to this book, a factoid is an untrue fact) about the words we use in Bill Bryson's latest word collection.
This isn't a reference book per se, rather it's designed to be a humorous look at words, and to help certain words stand out in your mind as you go about your writing. This is more of a pre-emptive read: it lets common pitfalls find a perch in your brain BEFORE you need to look them up. There are times when the internet isn't available - like in the middle of a conversation. Remember, it's not just a book of words, but an anecdotal book of words, including spellings, pronunciations, meanings, and etymologies. It'll suprise you to learn what you thought you knew about the words you use.
Don't buy this if you're looking for a comprehensive "Most Commonly Misspelled Words" book. Bryson himself calls this his "personal collection": a potpouri of commonly misspelled words and some interesting facts to go with them. These words reflect Bryson's personality, and for the fans, that's not such a bad thing.
I love this book! I personally just like to go through every once in awhile, sip a few words, mull them over, and if I remember them later on then so much the better. A. Some say that the internet makes books like this obsolete. I'm inclined to disagree. Like any reference book, you can look up what you are intending to look up, or - and here's the beauty of Brysons' book- you can read it for pleasure and find all sorts of creative entries you would never think to look up in the first place.
If you liked Dictionary of Troublesome Words, or you're one who likes interesting facts about the words we do use, I'd recommend this book.
 Why Bother? May 20, 2008
16 out of 26 found this review helpful
According to the copyright page, "earlier editions" of this book were published in England as "The Penguin Dictionary for Writers and Editors" more than 15 years ago. According to Bryson's preface, it's intended as a "quick, concise guide to the problems of English spelling and usage most commonly encountered by writers and editors" and "is a personal collection, built up over thirty years..." That's all well and good, but since its original publication, a little thing called the internet has come along and rendered a good deal of the contents rather superfluous. For example, it's hard to imagine that anyone seeking the correct spelling of "suggestible" or "sulfur" would turn to page 322 of this book to learn the proper sequence of letters. For one thing, it would be vastly inefficient to turn to Bryson's "personal collection" every time a spelling question arose on the off chance his spelling problems matched yours. More to the point, there are any number of reliable online dictionaries one could use instead. Similarly, the book is full of names and one-line bios of famous and semi-famous people (ranging on page 323 from Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi to Patrick Swayze). Again, why hope that Bryson has an entry on a particular person as opposed to a quick check online at any number of reliable sources? And so on, from various foreign-language terms to geographic locations, abbreviations, etc. The only area where Bryson "adds value" is those entries which evoke a more lengthy discussion of usage, however he's already written a book on usage (Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words), so one might as well rely on that (or any number of other excellent usage guides). On the whole, this book doesn't appear to hold much utility for the average writer or editor (both of which I have been), whose bookshelves and internet bookmarks will likely already contain the tools to address any of the entries in this book. Rather, it appears to be an ill-advised attempt by the publisher to cash in on the Bryson brand.
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