Reviews (8)

Better Than Some I've Read
I have to admit that I had never read any of Janet Evanovich's books until this one. Some of the reviews here were not as favorable as I would have expected. The reviewers were disappointed that nothing new had been revealed to them, wrt the mechanics of writing, but so what? I have many books at home dealing with that and can refer to them when needed. My interest in reading How I Write was just to get this particular author's view of the writing life. What motivated her to chose the mystery genre and how she came up with plots for her series of novels about Stephanie Plum. I wasn't at all disappointed in what I read and was actually inspired to get back to my own writing, particularly the advice Miss Evanovich gave to stop working and reworking the first chapter and to move on asap to chapter two. It helped to unstick myself and to move forward. Since finishing this book, I've begun reading the Stephanie Plum books. They are fast paced and quite humorous. I recommend How I Write to anyone who needs a chuckle and a little motivation.

If You Like Evanovich, You'll Like This Book
I've been a fan of Janet Evanovich since her first Stephanie Plum novel. I like her breezy and humorous style, and it's in great evidence in How I Write.
Mostly fluff
If you're an Evanovich fan, sure you might enjoy this, but there's no meat, just tons of fluff. With so many guides on the market, don't waste your money here. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Authorship    2. Composition & Creative Writing - Fiction    3. Fiction    4. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    5. Reference    6. Writing Skills    7. Reference / Writing Skills   

Reviews (4)

Rules that Rule
There's English and there's effective English.Roy Peter Clark knows the differences between the two and, luckily for us, he knows how to teach them to others.His fifty rules of better writing will help any writer at any level of their career.

Wonderful!
Roy Peter Clark's Writing Tools is to authors and journalists what Home Depot is to construction workers. Clark gives writers a fully stocked shed of clear, concise tips, strategies and guidelines to instantly help improve anyone's writing.
A new guide for an old craft
I am both a newspaperman and and an author. I have followed Roy Peter Clark's teachings for many years, so when this book came along -- comprising many of Clark's extraordinary Poynter essays -- I snapped it up, and am glad I did.
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Subjects:  1. Authorship    2. Composition & Creative Writing - General    3. English language    4. Grammar    5. Language    6. Language Arts & Disciplines    7. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    8. Reference    9. Rhetoric    10. Rhetoric (General)    11. Writing Skills    12. Creative writing guides    13. English    14. Reference / Writing Skills    15. Reference works   

Reviews (6)

Great Resource forSchool Paper in WV
I ordered the handbook when our school decided to begin a school newspaper. I have not had to search for any other resource. This book has everything you might need. It begins with hands-on practical approaches to choosing a staff and things to consider before beginning the paper.It is followed by actual ideas that can be used to produce a true journalistic setting from which to publish the paper. There are many pages that can be reproduced.The book gives ideas for monthly columns as well as ideas for feature stories. It even has a page to reproduce "press badges" for the staff.Our sixth graders produce our school paper but this book would be good for any start-up or established paper.

A must have resource for any school newspaper
"Kids in print" is an excellent resource.The book is well organized and offers several tips on starting a school newspaper.There are also several "organizational" sheets that can be copied to help students stay on track while interviewing people and writing stories.

Very helpful
This book helped our school start its newspaper. The format is easy to follow and the information is useful and practical. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Composition & Creative Writing - Newspapers/Magazines    2. Education / Secondary    3. Language Arts & Disciplines / Journalism    4. Education    5. Journalism    6. Language Arts & Disciplines    7. Media Studies - Print Media    8. Organization & management of education    9. Secondary    10. Students & Student Life   

Reviews (34)

Absolutely essential
As a college student, I would be lost without this manual. It covers APA and MLA writing formats in great detail step by step, with tabs throughout the book marking each topic, making it easy to navigate. A lot of people are intimidated by the price, but $50 is a small price to pay for this kind of information.

For both my jobs
I work full-time for a printer as a proofreader/editor. Part-time, I am an English instructor at the Manhattan campus of the College of New Rochelle. For both these jobs, my one and only Bible is Diana Hacker's, "A Writer's Reference". It is a comprehensive, easily accessible tool for students and professionals alike.

Small, expensive, important
Let's be real, this book is small -- almost pocket-sized.But that's the whole idea.This tough little book provides a quick reference for all English composition forms, so serious writers will want to carry it everywhere.It is a must-have for any high-school or college student taking English composition.Any person who writes for a living should have this book as well.The spiral binding allows the open book to sit flat onyour desk.Its cover is heavily laminated so it can be tossed into a backpack or briefcase without thrashing it too much....And you won't want to thrash it because this is one expensive bad-boy book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Composition & Creative Writing - General    2. English language    3. Grammar    4. Handbooks, manuals, etc    5. Language    6. Language Arts & Disciplines    7. Linguistics    8. Reference    9. Report writing    10. Rhetoric    11. Writing Skills    12. Language Arts & Disciplines / Composition & Creative Writing   

Reviews (19)

Become the funniest person in print with this basic comedy writing handbook for humor writers
Become the funniest person in print with this basic comedy writing handbook for humor writers, Mel Helitzer & Mark Schatz's Comedy Writing Secrets, 2nd Edition which offers up exercises, details on differences between different types of comedy writing, and tips for writing for specific markets, from sitcom and television to greeting cards and T-shirts. Tips are blocked in sidebars of at-a-glance information, discussions are filled with comedy quotes throughout, and insights on what makes something funny offers up a fine pairing of exercises and insights on humor.

A book to get you started
I have the first edition of this book (figures they'd release a second edition after I buy the first) and learned a lot from it. It reads like a college textbook and the joke examples aren't funny in the least, but the formulas you learn here are used by comedians and sitcom writers all the time. Just turn on your favorite sitcom one night and count the various joke formulas used over the course of a half hour show if you doubt Helitzer's knowledge. You'll find that he describes nearly every one in this book.
A guide for humor writers who want to master the basics to become professionals
Mel Helitzer works with Mark Schatz on the second edition of Comedy Writing Secrets, a guide for humor writers who want to master the basics to become professionals. This is an expanded new edition which includes more humor writing exercises, more details on how to write for sitcoms and standup alike, more sources for paying positions, and more markets. Anecdotes and tips from top comics supplement information writers will find specific and essential to honing their craft. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Authorship    2. Comedy    3. Composition & Creative Writing - General    4. General    5. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    6. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    7. Reference    8. Wit and humor    9. Writing Skills    10. Creative writing guides    11. English   

Editorial Review

If you enjoyed Read more

Reviews (20)

Beautiful memoir!
Through this well written memoir you get to learn a lot about Africa, specially about Rwandas history. Rosamund's life story is very interesting, the choices she made, the oportunities life offered to her and that she took. It's great to see all the good deeds she made and the things she achieved inspite of all the caos Rwanda has gone through in the last decades. She takes care of lots of orphan kids and shelters them at her property. She does her best to help these kids become the best they can be even they live surrounded by danger. I enjoyed the book very much and learned more about Africa and about humanity as well.

50 years are artfully packed into this memoir
What a well-written book! It reads like the memoir that it is, and memoirs require special storytelling skills when they cover an entire 50 years.And this is what the book does--covers 50 years of the author's life and Rwandan history.
Fascinating look into Rwanda's history
My interest in Rwanda was spurred by watching the movie "Hotel Rwanda" and reading "The Poisonwood Bible" (which is set in next door Congo).This book follows the life of a young woman that marries an African adventurer and goes there at a fairly young age.She winds up spending practically the rest of her life there, and provides a unique and interesting perspective on Rwanda's history.Watching "Hotel Rwanda" gave me only a snapshot - leading me to think that Hutus were crazy blood thirsty savages going after Tutsis.Well, many of them were, but this book gave me a little of the background as to why the Hutus are so crazy and militant.Rwanda certainly has had a turbulent history.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Carr, Rosamond Halsey    6. Central Africa - History    7. Country life    8. Description and travel    9. Ethnic Cultures - General    10. Historical - General    11. Rwanda    12. Social life and customs    13. Travelers    14. Women    15. Biography & Autobiography / General    16. Biography: general    17. Travel writing   

Editorial Review

"Fifteen minutes!" you say. "That's too good to be true!" Okay, author Joan Bolker admits she gave her book the title Read more

Reviews (46)

Life saver
This book helped me cope with the issues blocking my progress on my dissertation. I finally felt like I wasn't alone! I developed some good strategies to overcome what everyone who has to work and live and love and write a dissertation all at the same time faces.

Eh--- not so much
I am a doctoral candidate and basically this book is not telling me how to write my dissertation and complete it giving 15 minutes a day to the writing (let alone the research) but really how to overcome blocks and start writing. Haven't we all been there, done that already?To me, this book didn't offer anything I hadn't already read, figured out or been taught. Perhaps it would be a good book for procrastinators, but not for me.

It got me thinking...
I really appreciate this book.I have a few other books on writing my dissertation and had started the process.Unfortunately, I had also bogged down.The book helped me get going again.The author offers simple ideas, but I actually tried them out and started writing.That is the secret to writing, just write.Simple but dramatic.And I started, as suggested, writing questions and comments to myself on the process of the dissertation.The more I put things down, the more clear they became to me.Amazing.I have really enjoyed this book.Great ideas and the motivation I needed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Academic writing    2. Authorship    3. Composition & Creative Writing - Academic    4. Composition & Creative Writing - General    5. Dissertations    6. Dissertations, Academic    7. General    8. Language    9. Reference    10. Report writing    11. Research And Report Writing    12. Writing Skills    13. German    14. Writing & editing guides   

Subjects:  1. Composition & Creative Writing - General    2. Education    3. Education / Teaching    4. Elementary    5. English Composition    6. Reading In Elementary Education    7. Teaching Methods & Materials - Language Arts    8. Teaching Methods & Materials - Reading    9. Education / Teaching Methods & Materials / Reading    10. Literacy    11. Primary / junior schools   

Reviews (4)

Terrific resource
Anderson explains how to show students the practicality of grammar and how to teach it in context rather than isolation in a way that middle school students will not only understand but also enjoy.He provides lists, lessons, examples, and everything needed to take this approach and immediately implement it in the classroom.This is one of the best-written and most helpful books I have read in years.

A MUST HAVE RESOURCE FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR AND WRITING
I absolutely adore this book! It's incredibly user friendly, and I didn't feel stupid about grammar while reading it. The first half of the book sets up the lessons. The second half is the lessons. It's obvious Jeff uses a writer's notebook and writer's workshop. He truly makes 'grammar in context' a meaningful and attainable way to teach. I have used several of the lessons with my fourth graders and they love it. I think only a book like this, and Jeff himself, could get someone like me to yell AUWWBIS like a farmer's pig call. It's fun and effective - get this book!

Practical & Useful!
This book provides strategies to help teachers "merge grammar and mechanics with craft in the context of meaningful writing", and it does exactly that!It outlines how to use mentor texts to teach students how to write well-written sentences. paragraphs and essays. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Composition & Creative Writing - General    2. Composition and exercises    3. English Composition    4. English language    5. General    6. Grammar    7. Language    8. Language Arts & Disciplines    9. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    10. Study & Teaching    11. Study and teaching (Secondary)   

Reviews (3)

Great for someone in business or already in business
Found that this book covered all the bases of writting a great business plan.As some one who has taken a couple of business courses, this was one of the best sources of information on writting a business plan.
Spectacular book
Wonderfully helpful book. I love this series and can't wait to read them all. While writing my business plan, this book as been by my side, every second, for reference. I don't know what I would have done without it!

A must read!
This is a must-read book for anyone thinking about starting or expanding a business. Rather than simply another book about writing a business plan, Sutton makes the case early and often about why such a plan is needed - and it isn't always to raise money.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business Communication - General    4. Business Writing    5. Business planning    6. Business/Economics    7. Communication In Business    8. Forecasting    9. Investments & Securities - General    10. Management    11. Personal Finance - General    12. Strategic Planning    13. Business & Economics / Personal Finance / General    14. Business strategy   

Reviews (35)

Lack of Style
This book provides important information delievered in an impersonal and lifeless manner. As a writer, I am wary to heed Williams's advice. Do I want to write prose as boring as his? I think not. Frankly, I think that if university students (such as myself) weren't required to read this book for class, Mr. Williams wouldn't make too much money.
Actual practical advice
While what Williams says is all excellent (nits picked by impatient colicky philistines notwithstanding), what really sets this book apart is the workbook approach:you actually learn how to write more clearly by doing the exercises.Brilliant and useful.

Best of the Best
It is difficult to know where to begin. I am writing a brief review of this book to counter the negative reviews I read.I was stunned: I expected to read rave reviews of Professor Williams' book. Without wanting to offend anyone, they are for the most part so far off the mark I would think they were talking about another book.
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Subjects:  1. Business English    2. Composition & Creative Writing - General    3. English language    4. Language    5. Language Arts & Disciplines    6. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    7. Rhetoric    8. Style    9. Technical English    10. English    11. Language Arts & Disciplines / Composition & Creative Writing    12. Writing & editing guides   

Reviews (2)

Not a bad start!
I was really pleased when my university began using this text in its beginning composition classes since I assumed it was based on the years of experience that applied linguists have had in using genre analysis, moves, "templates" [scripts and frames] and other approaches that have influenced ESL/EFL and especially English for Specific Purposes (ESP) texts. I was quite surprised when I realized that the authors seem to have done no research in an already existing field as they wrote this text.
Fantastic approach to teaching persuasive writing
I received this book too late to use it for my persuasive writing class.While I had moderate success with my other book, Everything's an Argument, I would certainly use this book if I had to do it all over again.
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Subjects:  1. Composition & Creative Writing - Academic    2. Creative Writing    3. English language    4. Handbooks, manuals, etc    5. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    6. Persuasion (Rhetoric)    7. Reference    8. Report writing    9. Rhetoric    10. Writing Skills    11. Reference / Writing Skills    12. Writing & editing guides   

Reviews (9)

Great book for HS English teachers!
Voice is perhaps the hardest of the 6 traits to teach.With my sophomore core English students, I would do 1 voice lesson each week for their warm up and it was amazing how much more accessible that vague idea of "voice" came to both myself and my students over the school year.The whole English department at my school uses Voice Lessons...9th grade teachers do a certain number, 10th grade, etc.By the time a student graduates, they will have done all the voice lessons.I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any English teacher or teacher who teaches writing (and which teachers don't?!).

Good Beginning!
This book is good for a class warmup.It probably could benefit from more indepth questions or more complex examples built on the
Wonderful highschool english activities to introduce students to Voice!
My students love these activities.It allows them to view voice in other authors' works and then to create their own.Great resource! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Composition & Creative Writing - General    2. Composition and exercises    3. Education    4. Education / Teaching    5. English language    6. Secondary    7. Study and teaching (Secondary)    8. Teaching Methods & Materials - Classroom Planning    9. Teaching Methods & Materials - General    10. Teaching Methods & Materials - Language Arts    11. Testing & Measurement   

Reviews (1)

Great Reference
An unbelieveable source of reliance great for research and guidelines on assignments.A teacher at home.Easy to understand and the writer is very dedicated to in helping educate.The MLA format is also shown whiledescription of verbs, tenses and subjects are given in chapters of depth. I strongly recommend this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Composition & Creative Writing - General    2. English language    3. Etymology    4. Grammar    5. Handbooks, manuals, etc    6. Language    7. Language Arts & Disciplines    8. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    9. Problems, exercises, etc    10. Reference    11. Usage    12. Language Arts & Disciplines / Composition & Creative Writing    13. Writing & editing guides   

Reviews (3)

A good book for getting to college level
We use this text for the supplemental/academic skills courses we offer at my community college, for those people whose reading skills are rusty for a number of reasons, including having been out of school for a number of years (sometimes as long as four or five decades), not having paid attention in class in high school, or other low-level literacy related reasons.
Pretty good
This book offers a good basis for learning skills necessary for successful reading, especially academic reading. The end of chapter readings offer a good cross selection of topics.

Bridging the Gap/ Brenda Smith
This book needs to be worded differently. I think it is a waste of money having to take this class for an entire semester. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Composition & Creative Writing - General    2. Education / Teaching    3. English Composition    4. Higher    5. Language    6. Language Arts & Disciplines    7. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    8. Literacy    9. Reading (Higher education)    10. Reading Skills    11. Study skills    12. Language Arts & Disciplines / Composition & Creative Writing   

Reviews (10)

. . . and Hamlet too.
I agreee wholeheartedly with those below. But Mr Ball is not merely a theorist, he supplies a chapter in which he takes us on a brief journey backward through Hamlet for a distance, and through this method shows how single and specific Hamlet's action is. I can't approach a script now without setting up my dominoes and charting it backward. It seemes foolish not to.

Required reading for anyone working on the stage!!
I had a conversation yesterday in which the other theatre artist asked what approach this book advocated to script analysis:
Valuable advice
The scope of BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS is narrow, but its ambition is important.This is a book about how to read a play.More specifically, it's about how to read a play whose production you are planning.There are 96 pages in this book and many of them are only partially filled.Some of them are blank.So in very few pages, author David Ball gives some valuable and(I would say, essential) advice.So many bad productions are bad simply because of a basic misreading of the script.Ball tells prospective directors what's important and how to recognize what's important.His advice is very straightforward and concise.He does not pad the book by going off on tangents or use long anecdotes to illustrate a point.He makes a point and then moves on to the next one.I think this book should be compulsory reading for the director, but it is also valuable to the playwright, the actor and the designer.This book is basic.There is a great need to get back to basics.David Ball has done the theatre a great service by writing this valuable book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Composition & Creative Writing - Play/Scriptwriting    2. Drama    3. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    4. Oral Interpretation    5. Performing Arts    6. Performing Arts/Dance    7. Production and direction    8. Shakespeare, William,    9. Technique    10. Theater    11. Theater - Direction & Production    12. Acting techniques    13. Hamlet    14. Plays & playwrights    15. Shakespeare, William   

Editorial Review

Even in 1934, Dorothea Brande knew that most writers didn't need another book on "technique" -- and this, before so many more would be published.No, she realized, as John Gardner notes in his foreword, "the root problems of the writer are personality problems," and thus her wise book is designed to simply help you get over yourself and start writing, with techniques ranging from a simple declaration to write every day at a fixed time -- no matter what -- to exercises that come close to inventing the TM and self-actualization movements that would follow a few decades later. ... Read more

Reviews (39)

This book turned me into a writer
There's a reason this book has been in print since 1934. It's a classic. It's the book that turned me into a writer, actually. (I've had 11 books and more than 350 articles published since I read this book.) You will have to overlook some of the language that does make it seem dated, but if you follow her suggestions, you will learn how to work with the creative process. This is the book that spawned a whole genre of books on becoming a writer, perhaps including Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, which I also love. But Brande's book is simpler, and a good place to start. Be forewarned: You must actually do the exercises Brande suggessts to get anything out of this book. If you do, you will see fruit.

Oldie But Goodie
Brande's book helped pioneer the contemporary monster genre of books on the writing life. "Writing Down the Bones," "Bird By Bird," etc. and etc. and etc. all have roots meandering back to this classic. Personally, I prefer some of its heirs, but many name writers have paid it homage. In it you'll discover that the idea of writing "morning pages" to kick-start the habit of scribbling wasn't original with Julia Cameron of "Creative Way" and its sequels fame; and Brande prefigures the right brain/left brain dynamic, too. I could live without her Freudian schmutz, but the book's original publication date, 1934, explains its presence. All in all, if you're a person who reads writing books regularly--to inspire, to goad, to learn, to dream--you'll no doubt want "Becoming a Writer" in your library.

From Archaic to Modern in One Short Period
Ironic that this book came out in the same year, 1934, as James M. Cain's breakout novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice.Cain's charge was the launching pad for hard-bitten, tell-it-like-it-is, choppy dialogue, a style that is still much in vogue today.#####Although Brande's style is distinctly that of another period, which unlike Cain's did not carry through to our present day, it nonetheless retains a certain charm which should be forever recognized.Her intermixture of pathos and purity side-by-side with an indefinable restlessness--a never-say-die pursuit of truth--is indeed endearing.What I liked best about this book is its in-depth probing of rest / work balance, an aspect of writing seldom examined. In my writing career, on the work side of the equation, I found that chewing on a narrative problem late at night, right into the alpha state of sleep, would produce answers first thing in the morning upon awakening.So often I would scramble out of bed and hasten to my old IBM Selectric typewriter to immediately get down on paper, pound into print, those wonderful ideas and phrases that came together in my head overnight.#####Many of the thoughts so eloquently expressed in this book, outdated as they are, should come through like a telepathic echo. To any young writer still at the front end of his / her writing career they should appear like a down payment on a dream. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Authorship    2. Composition & Creative Writing - Fiction    3. Composition & Creative Writing - General    4. Fiction    5. General    6. Language    7. Language Arts & Disciplines    8. Psychology    9. Publishing    10. Technique    11. Creative writing guides   

Reviews (9)

Most Interesting Book!
For anyone interested in the English language, and anyone curious about it, I strongly recommend this major book. Of course, get the latest edition, mine is the fifth, that is the 2002 edition.
An Excellent History
I bought "A History of the English Language" looking for a dependable history of the English language that could be read by a beginner in Linguistics. In this book I found exactly what I wanted.
Excellent, a good read and informative
This is an excellent book that is informative and easy to read.
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Subjects:  1. Composition & Creative Writing - General    2. English language    3. History    4. Language    5. Language Arts & Disciplines    6. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    7. Linguistics    8. English    9. Historical & comparative linguistics    10. Language Arts & Disciplines / Composition & Creative Writing   

Reviews (9)

Interaction Design
The majority of this book is from the thoughts and findings of other authors.Nothing orignal.Books is difficult to read and often does a poor job of explaining topics clearly.Currently using this book as a text book for a class and have to believe there is a better choice out there.

Adequate but not great
I have used this text for a year and half, for three instances of the same course (upper division undergrad).Good: 1. Each chapter is about a week's work, so it fits the schedule nicely; 2. Each chapter has "activities", "summary", and "assignments" which I find very useful when making assignments; 3. Lots of illustrations; 4. Interviews with professionals in the field are added at the end of each chapter -- this adds another dimension to the "textbook" aspects of the book; 5. Cartoons here and there. Could be improved: the quality of some of the illustrations -- some of them are photos that are dark and hard to make out.Some look like they came from the 1950s -- I am not sure how that is possible in a book published in 2002, but that's what it looks like to me.Still, the text is "nicely illustrated".The thing that stops this from being a "great" text is the quality of the writing and presentation of ideas.The writing is too simplistic.A "great" text finds ways to express things in a succinct manner, summarizing key ideas.Instead, this book tends to be wordy in many places, and lacks an effective organization of ideas.Finally, the text is starting to appear "dated", but few textbooks can withstand the breakneck speed of change in this area.That said, no student has complained (to me) about the text (but neither have they praised it).And, I have not been able to find a better text.

Excellent Course Text for HCI students
The breath and depth of this text truly embodies the necessary content for beginning HCI students in an undergraduate and graduate program. I've successfully used this text every semester with my students since its inception. The author's perspective of the discipline accurately reflects an increasing trend in HCI education that places less emphasis on computing and more on designing products to enhance human communication based on the social sciences. It is organized to provide an instructor a way to pick and choose selected chapters or proceed sequentially. Each chapter is multi-dimensional in its approach to provide an array of content that includes both theory and practice. I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Human-Computer Interaction    6. Interactive & Multimedia    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Technical Writing    9. Virtual Reality    10. Computer Communications & Networking    11. General Theory of Computing    12. Technology / Technical Writing   

Reviews (5)

Good resource!
Good resource for writing!Easy to locate topics and easy to understand!

NOT The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need
If you want information on how/when to use reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, etc), and when not to use them, this book won't help you whatsoever. It explains what reflexive pronouns are, but says nothing about usage.

Great for young and old
Being a native English speaker, my biggest concern about English grammar was during college when I was ensuring that my papers, exams, etc., were good enough to help me pull good grades.It wasn't until I began to pick up other languages, especially Spanish, that English grammar grabbed my attention.