SAM 3250J
Book Review: HBR A Guide to Better Business Writing
Garner’s Guide for Business Writing is an easy read for anyone who needs to tune-up their writing style. Garner defines bad writing and gives useful tools for great writing in business. This book is a good reference for anyone who needs writing tools. Garner walks you through the steps of writing and makes editing easy. Garner even reviews word usage and commonly overused words to eliminate. In this book you will find everything you need to know about good business writing. Garner breaks it down into sections where he first tells us to know why we are writing, be clear, know your audience, don’t waste words, avoid bizspeak, and pay close attention to continuity. He then in the second section goes over emails, letters, memos, reports, and employee audits. In the final section Garner reviews grammar and punctuation rules, word usage, and commonly used word fails. Getting started, for me is sometimes the most difficult part of the writing process. Garner seems to understand that and gives step by step directions on how to begin the writing process. He, in the first section of the book, leads us from why we are writing all the way through the first editing steps.
Garner’s idea “Flowers Paradigm”, is an interesting and useful idea in helping to understand the writing process from each characters view. He names and defines the characters as being: the madman (who comes up with ideas quickly but lacks follow through), the architect (who brings order to the madman’s ideas), the carpenter (who adds detail), and the judge (who finalizes grammer and punctuation). It’s Garners theory, which I agree with, that these must all remain separate in writing. You can’t allow the judge to work before the architect or carpenter.
Garner has a brilliant way of showing us how to use “not this, but this” in the second section of the book. He shows us the bizspeak blacklist, which is an impressive list of cliché words that
Garner’s Guide for Business Writing is an easy read for anyone who needs to tune-up their writing style. Garner defines bad writing and gives useful tools for great writing in business. This book is a good reference for anyone who needs writing tools. Garner walks you through the steps of writing and makes editing easy. Garner even reviews word usage and commonly overused words to eliminate. In this book you will find everything you need to know about good business writing. Garner breaks it down into sections where he first tells us to know why we are writing, be clear, know your audience, don’t waste words, avoid bizspeak, and pay close attention to continuity. He then in the second section goes over emails, letters, memos, reports, and employee audits. In the final section Garner reviews grammar and punctuation rules, word usage, and commonly used word fails. Getting started, for me is sometimes the most difficult part of the writing process. Garner seems to understand that and gives step by step directions on how to begin the writing process. He, in the first section of the book, leads us from why we are writing all the way through the first editing steps.
Garner’s idea “Flowers Paradigm”, is an interesting and useful idea in helping to understand the writing process from each characters view. He names and defines the characters as being: the madman (who comes up with ideas quickly but lacks follow through), the architect (who brings order to the madman’s ideas), the carpenter (who adds detail), and the judge (who finalizes grammer and punctuation). It’s Garners theory, which I agree with, that these must all remain separate in writing. You can’t allow the judge to work before the architect or carpenter.
Garner has a brilliant way of showing us how to use “not this, but this” in the second section of the book. He shows us the bizspeak blacklist, which is an impressive list of cliché words that