Your Own Words

Rating:
Summary: Dull and elementary glimpses at Wallraff's erudition
Review: As a high school teacher, I've enjoyed Ms. Wallraff's newspaper column - and wondered how she accumulated the resources to answer the language questions posed and with such grace, tact and knowledge. Now I have an inkling, in this book, and it is a long-overdue and welcome companion in my classroom.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful, decisive - and amusing
Review: As a writer and speaker, I've often hesitated in choosing the right words and phrases, so as not to be misunderstood. And often turned to a favorite dictionary or reference book unquestioningly. What a surprise and shock to learn from Your Own Words how naive I've have been when I should have known more about the books I was using - and trusting. And how things like Google can do a better job of helping than some well-regarded language references and experts.

This is a fascinating, thoughtful, insightful and at times downright amusing look at the way we write, speak - and decide how to do both. As well as deciding which language reference books are worth having and using. Money well spent.

Rating:
Summary: Helpful and clever
Review: I was familiar with Barbara Wallraff's earlier book - and enjoyed it - but this one is far more helpful. It is a guide to the language guides, a clever overview of what is helpful and what is not in the world of language references. She is never stuffy - something tough to pull off when reviewing reference works - and has a great deal to say about newer sources, book and electronic (much of it free), that I intend to use in the classroom and at home.

I've no idea what book the teacher from Madison, WI was reading or commenting on, in a jumbled-language and ungrammatical manner, I might add, but the criticisms don't hold water. Take a look for yourself. This book helps in a way I've never seen before, to choose the right sources for the right purposes in writing and speaking.

Rating:
Summary: Solid, informative, lively
Review: I'm not sure how to characterize this book, as a reference, as a discourse on English and how it is evolving, as a guide to research tools in language and linguistics.

It is really all of them wrapped together, a distillation of what appears to be a dedicated life-long interest in language from a well-known Atlantic Monthly editor. It is in no way pointy-headed, the way so many language guides are. It is open to new ways of doing business in speaking or writing, and Wallraff shows us how to justify our judgements and back them up with quick searches in books or on the Internet.

There is a wit and sense of giving and forgiving, that there might be a right way or several right ways, that the language is changing and we need to uphold some standards and 'get a life' to let other standards evolve.

As an academic and a writer, I find the book insightful, unstuffy and, above all, very helpful. I read it, learned new approaches and feel that I will continue to build on those lessons.

Rating:
Summary: Dull and elementary glimpses at Wallraff's erudition
Review: Toward the end of her second chapter Wallraff actually apologizes in advance for how boring her upcoming discussion of online lexicographical resources is going to be. This is the kind of self-deprecating remark we see all the time in modern grammar manuals, and I would have immediately forgotten it if she had not been so on target. Indeed, I would appreciate an apology from the author--ideally on the book jacket--for how boring this entire book is.

I, probably like everyone else reviewing this book, am an English teacher, and I have read more grammar and language guides in a year than sane people do in a lifetime. I read, first, to learn about the language that I am teaching and, second, to find outstanding discussions and explanations to pass on to my students. Your Own Words presented me with neither of these goals.

While Wallraff is an English language expert, and she is one of the foremost authorities in America for researching contemporary use of English. While she characterizes her project as revelation of the secrets of lingual research, she offers only the most prosaic advice, cloaked in virtually unreadable prose. She may have extracted all the life out of English in her admirable quest to understand it. It is unfortunate that so great an authority writes so abominably.

Finally--and I respect that this is a highly subjective opinion--Wallraff's revelations didn't shock or educate me. Her advice about extracting hard meaning from dictionaries, the internet, journal databases, etc., shouldn't be surprising to anyone currently working in a research university. At one time or another I have taught some version of these techniques to my students: although Wallraff might be the greatest user of these techniques, she is not their sole proprietor.

Rating:
Summary: An important new resource
Review: What a terrific addition to my reference shelf! Wallraff's book supplies not only the entertaining and helpful answers about language we've all learned to expect after years of reading her Word Court column in the Atlantic, but also information I've never found elsewhere about how to find answers for ourselves when she's not around.

Your Own Words raises the value of all the other style guides, usage manuals, and dictionaries on your shelf by teaching you how to use those references (and many, many others) to best advantage, and she does it with her usual grace and good humor.

One of my favorite things about this volume: Wallraff gives both long and short explanations of her subject matter. Breaking the basics out in a distinct typeface, she gives you a choice of skimming the book for entertainment and some basics, or digging in deep for more information than you ever knew existed. As an editor, I think Wallraff's book is an essential new resource, but it's also a wonderful treat for anyone who loves language and just wants exceptionally readable insights into the craft of writing, editing, and research.