Off-Topic: Book Review
The Little Brown Handbook, Thirteenth Edition
This is probably the most off-topic posting I will ever make. However, “I are an engineer,” and I need all the help I can get with grammar. And, I’ve found the perfect source in The Little Brown Handbook.
Like most engineers, my writing generally sucks without editing help. (If you don’t understand the “I are an engineer” joke, you need help too!) The grammar tools built into most word processors (Word, LibreOffice Writer, Pages) are pathetic. Many grammar suggestions they offer are so obviously wrong that even I recognize them. (Most annoying and universally wrong suggestion: change “they’re” to “their.”)
I also have used several AI-based tools to clean up my writing before giving it to my editor. Those tools have helped a lot. However, none properly understand context and often create as many bad suggestions as good ones. Thus, I still have to rely on an editor to clean up my “final” drafts before publishing them.
Most of my current errors originate either from the AI tools missing an error or from the tools making an incorrect suggestion. What’s most madding is where one tool calls something an error, and another tool claims the first tool is wrong and suggests my original text as a correction.
To determine what is or isn’t correct, I either ignore the problem and let my editor deal with it, or I search the internet for answers. The problem with the internet search is that I can easily spend more than a half-hour searching and not end up with a clear answer.
Then, I encountered Little Brown. It has been a godsend. It is thoroughly indexed and finding answers are easy. Best of all, it has clear explanations as to why something is or isn’t grammatically correct. Although it was written as a grammar reference for college students, many middle- and most high-school students should find the text easy to understand.
If you have a basic understanding of the concepts of what are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, you probably have an adequate background for this book. Even if you don’t, the third chapter covers those concepts.
The first two chapters discuss the basic concepts of how one should approach writing. They cover everything from writing reports and essay exam answers to academic writing and public presentations. As mentioned previously, the third chapter covers the basics of the parts of speech and writing sentences. Chapters four and five discuss the proper grammatical structure of sentences. Chapter six covers punctuation, and chapter seven covers the mechanical structure of sentences (capitalization, italics, underlining, etc.).
The remainder of the book dives into how to fine-tune your writing and writing for specific audiences. It also goes into detail about how to write to conform to the MLA standard, which is often required for academic and professional writing. The overwhelming majority of the time, I find the answers I need in chapters three, four, or five.
The book is not cheap. Amazon wants your first-born male child plus a king’s ransom for it. I found a near-mint-condition used copy on Abe Books for about one-fifth the Amazon price. They called the condition “very good,” and the only damage I have found is a small ding on one corner of the cover.
Needless to say, I highly recommend this book for anyone who has to write anything in American English. I only wish I had had this book when I was in high school and college!
Fowler, H. Ramsey, Jane E. Aaron. The Little, Brown Handbook, 13th Ed. Pearson, 2016. ISBN-13: 978–0–13–458633–5.
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