Preface to Critical Reading

by Richard D. Altick

Book Overview

6 th edition; CONCISE GLOSSARY EXPANDED; 352 WITH INDEX; This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0030613736
• ISBN13: 9780030613739
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Holt McDougal
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Yes, excellent

The only bugaboo you may suspect in your own writing, after absorbing the many rich truths which Richard Altick so clearly presents in his patient, craftsmanlike manner, is that you end up sounding a lot like Richard Altick.

"Words, Words, Words..."

Very like a winter wind echoing through an abandoned home is the determinendly hopeful phrase "educational experience." We have all had plenty of these and they all turned out badly. There is a certain melancholy not unlike the lack of content or sincerity in a Sunday School text --that and the same mindless optimism.That is why it is so very good to encounter an intellectual engagement that is actually fun to encounter. This book talks (and demonstrates) the various jobs that language discharges: the vast work done by the various associations that words carry quite apart from literal meaning. It explains "style" and demonstrates how to achieve one. When you have finished this book, you will be a better reader AND writer. And it was all achieved quite painlessly.

Preface to Pure Pleasure

Perhaps the least-favored phrase in the language is "very educational." It conveys the joyless atmosphere of the classroom with the doubtful benefits of a Sunday School text. Thus, it an enormous pleasure to come across this book. It teaches about meaning --in both the literal and figurative senses --and is the kind of rigorous workout that one enjoys almost sensually: it is great fun! If you ever wanted to develop a writing style, this is a wonderful place to begin.