Product Description

What is the difference between cant and jargon, or assume and presume? What is a fandango? What's the new name for Calcutta? How do you spell supersede? Boutros Boutros-Ghali? Is it hippy or hippie? These questions really matter to Bill Bryson, ever since his days as a rookie subeditor on "The Times" back in the 1970s: as they do to anyone who cares about the English language.Originally published as "The Penguin Dictionary for Writers and Editors", Bryson's "Dictionary for Writers and Editors" has now been completely revised and updatedfor the twenty-first century by Bill Bryson himself. Here is a very personal selection of spellings and usages, covering such head-scratchers as capitalization, plurals, abbreviations and foreign names and phrases. Bryson also gives us the difference between British and American usages, and miscellaneous pieces of essential information you never knew you needed, like the names of all the Oxford colleges, or the new name for the Department of Trade and Industry - or the correct spelling of Brobdingnag. An indispensable companion to all those who write, work with the written word, or who just enjoy getting things right, it gives rulings that are both authoritative and commonsense, all in Bryson's own inimitably good humoured way.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #204032 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 464 pages

Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday
Bryson is against pomposity and in favour of clarity and brevity...Waugh would find much to surprise and please him here.

Erica Wagner, The Times
Your favourite transplanted American (and mine) has ventured into the field of Linguistic Guidance for Limeys...Language lovers...should raise three cheers.

From the Back Cover
What is the difference between cant and jargon, or assume and presume? What is a fandango? What’s the new name for Calcutta?How do you spell supersede? Boutros Boutros-Ghali? Is it hippy or hippie?
These questions really matter to Bill Bryson, ever since his days as a rookie subeditor on The Times back in the 1970s; and they matter to anyone who cares about the English language. Originally published as The Penguin Dictionary for Writers and Editors, Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors has now been completely revised and updated for the twenty-first century by Bill Bryson himself. Here is a very personal selection of spellings and usages, covering such head-scratchers as capitalization, plurals, abbreviations and foreign names and phrases. Bryson also gives us the difference between British and American usages, and miscellaneous pieces of essential information you never knew you needed, like the names of all the Oxford colleges, or the new name for the Department of Trade and Industry – or the correct spelling of Brobdingnag. An indispensable companion to all those who write, work with the written word, or just enjoy getting things right, it gives rulings that are both authoritative and commonsense, all in Bryson’s own inimitably good-humoured way.

Customer Reviews

Why Bother?
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.

To call this a curate's egg...
...is being generous. I'm an aspiring writer and bought this from a book club, believing the publisher blurb that it is an "Indispensable companion to all those who write...".

On first opening the book at random I was presented with the fact that John Le Mesurier is a British actor who died in 1983. Wow. Apart from the spelling of his name and the fact that he's dead, I know nothing else about him (and I knew he was dead). That sums up this book: as another reviewer has mentioned, there is nothing here that you couldn't Google for. Agreed, the internet is full of inaccuracy, urban legend and unsubstantiated opinion but it's still better than checking this book as anything other than a last resort. Some entries have no description, just the word (presumably so you can discover Google is better, alas after wasting your money). If it were a pocket guide it might occasionally be worth carrying around should you prefer to write in a remote location, but this is hardback and 450 odd pages of typically large typeface.

This book is something of everything but, ultimately, nothing. Unless you think not knowing how to pronounce Billericay is going to get you killed.

It's bill-a-rik'-ee apparently. Phew! Thanks Bill.

Loss of trust
I was able to put my hands on this book (2008 edition) only after I had hoarded about six of Bryson's books and also had developed liking for his curious observational gift. However, after perusing this publication, I lost most of my trust in his jumbo interpretative self-confidence. A lot of criticism has been presented in previous reviews. I would only like to express my dismay at Bryson's chaotic perception of priorities. For instance, apparent Bryson's interest in tennis is illustrated by inclusion of a plethora of fly-by-night Russian tennis players, and by a failure to include such a superstar (spelling-wise and achievement-wise) like Navratilova. In addition, misinformation, particularly concerning nationalities of various entrants, is too plentiful to mention.
What, however, rocked my confidence completely was Bryson's claim that Pilsener is "a German beer". A person who does not know that Pilsener, the king of lagers, is a beer brewed in Pilsen, a city in Bohemia, today Czech Republic, is not entitled to write books like "A theory of anything". It's like saying that champagne is a sparkling wine made in Spain. It's really disappointing, Mr. Bryson.