Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

For those who do editing, this book offers useful guidance, covering topics in a clever, snarky way. I finally know when to capitalize (or not capitalize) an entry after a colon: Use a capital if the entry is a complete sentence; otherwise, not (e.g., lists). And curious items on the use of B.C. and A.D.; or when or when not to write out numbers. Oddly, the text is often clunky or irritating because the author too often tries to be amusing. I'm on chapter 7 and have already found some copy-editing errors (odd, since the author claims to be so attentive, and his list of thanks at the end of the book goes on for 8 pages--with this many interested parties, one would think someone would have spotted the blunders). The most annoying feature of the book relates to the footnotes: First, there are many too many and their font size is much too small; second, many of the footnotes are smart aleck and unnecessary; third, the symbols for the footnotes are tiny, tiny asterisks, crossbars, and double crossbars that are difficult to see as one is reading, with the result that, getting to the bottom of a page, one realizes there are yet more notes not read because the reader hasn't seen the minuscule symbol to which the note refers. Highly annoying and out of sync with the author's emphasis on verbal clarity and visual appropriateness. Just read chapter 7, "The Realities of Fiction," and am becoming irritated: If we trust what's said here, most writers are oblivious and dumb. Odd that a copy editor is making such claims. One begins to realize why most copy editors never make it as writers. If you want a better recent book on writing and editing, I recommend Mary Norris's BETWEEN YOU AND ME (Norton, 2015)--clearer, more graceful, and more enticing.