On Writing Well: The Classic Guide To Writing Nonfiction
- Harshal
- Mar 13
- 1 min read
Book Review: 3/5 Impact On Me (William Zinsser)
Read more about the book here.
This book had a 3 out of 5 impact on me. I already knew many of the principles from other writing books, but the book reinforced what works and helped me codify my approach.
I've read several writing books (linked below). This book added to what I learned from those books and its hard to differentiate which insight came from from which book. Some things that I recollect.
Cut Unnecessary Words
The book emphasizes reducing unnecessary words. Adjectives and adverbs often add no value. I combined this principle with learnings from other writing books to define my tone and style for writing. I codified these rules in an AI prompt that I reuse to edit my writing.
Reader Time Over Writer Time
The book argues you should value reader time over writer time. For popular blogs with thousands of readers, this makes sense. Spending extra hours to save each reader a few seconds adds up. My blog has a smaller audience. I get value from writing, publishing, and connecting with a few readers. Chasing writing perfection has diminishing returns. A middle ground works better—polish enough to be clear, then publish.
