The Art of Spelling: The Madness and the Method

by Marilyn vos Savant

Book Overview

Like The Elements of Style and On Writing Well, The Art of Spelling has emerged as a writing manual for the ages, the backlist volume that will tell us everything we will ever want to know about spelling. Begun as a spelling survey in the Ask Marilyn column of Parade magazine, The Art of Spelling dispels the myth that good spelling is simply a measure of intelligence or education. With her trademark no-nonsense wit, vos Savant shows where good (and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393322084
• ISBN13: 9780393322088
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

The book I was going to write - or something like it

I believe our culture lacks an appreciation of the goofiness of our spelling system, its history, and its value. This book does a fairly good job of providing a humorous, insightful, and helpful look at English spelling, without taking either a superior or a belittling attitude. Down-to-earth, a fun read, and maybe helpful for people who really want to improve. A little bit less history than I would have included, but probably just as much as most people want to hear. For geeks like me, there's always the Oxford English Dictionary.

The ART of SPELLING is spellbinding!

With Joan Reilly's illustration this lively, comprehensive & useful guide for spellers of all abilities takes a look at what our spelling reveals about our intelligence & personalities.Marilyn vos Savant reconstitutes our turbulent history in spelling this language we call English, offering us insights about the use & misuse of spell-checkers - remember, computers won't know the difference between wave & waive or their & they're & she sketches some surprising portraits of all kinds of us spellers. If spelling interests you in the least little bit, do give this book a go - you may very well find it a delight, I did! Do visit my site for my full review & editorials on the love of reading & writing!

The madness and the method

The Art of Spelling by Marilyn Vos Savant is a book to be read not an exercise manual. It summarizes much of the advice found in other books on spelling improvement and includes such things as a list of the most frequently misspelled words but contains no drills. As close as one gets to the usual content of a self help book on spelling is a personality questionnaire. Nearly half of the book is devoted to the psychology of good and bad spellers so it makes sense to determine if the reader has the characteristics of either of these groups. Unlike many books on this topic, the author has not only read the best books on the topic but has interviewed the authors. It certainly makes sense to interview the experts but I have rarely seen this strategy used as effectively as it is in this book. Although she interviews the Anglo-Saxon scholar who the president of the Simplified Spelling Society, she misses the opportunity to address any of the real solutions to the spelling problem. She does identify the problem as "phonetic irregularity" -- many words are not spelled the way they are pronounced. She follows up this insight with a misleading quote from author Edna Furness (p.119) "Research in linguistics has shown that the English language is more phonetic than we realize (approximately 85%)." All languages are 100% phonetic. It is the writing systems that try to record meaningful sounds that go astray.There is some statistical regularity in English spelling. Four spelling patterns for the 12 elementary vowels will account for 75% of the vowel spellings in the dictionary. [See www.unifon.org/uu-18ways.html]. Most writing systems achieve a spelling predictability rating of over 85% but not the traditional one used to transcribe English. In English, knowing how to pronounce a word will enable someone to come up with not one but a half dozen orthographically correct spellings. Since each sound in English is spelled 14 different ways, narrowing the spelling of a particular pronunciation down to 6 alternatives is an accomplishment. There may be an 85% chance that one of these six allowable spellings is correct -- i.e., matches the dictionary. Knowing the basic code does help narrow the field and Vos Savant lists up to five of the most common spellings for 39 of the 40 or so sounds in English speech. She also provides some useful mnemonic devices for selecting the best alternative in the group. Other practical advice includes how to use a spelling checker without being overly dependent on it. This is a book that anyone with an interest in spelling will enjoy reading. Marilyn Vos Savant is a seasoned writer and it shows.

Thanks from an aweful speler!

All my life I've been a bad speller even though I did very well in my other studies. At first, I thought I was stupid. This book is a godsend for those who question whether or not spelling is a reflection on IQ. I now realize that my creativity gets in the way of my spelling. I'd also recommend a book I just finished, The RoMANtic's Guide by Michael Webb. Bet Marilyn would really enjoy it too.