Written to read like a novel, Because I Remember Terror is a gripping history of abuse and power, and of the subsequent healing and forgiveness. People with weak stomachs should be warned that Silverman does not sugar-coat her childhood--her language, though vibrant and flowing, is quite raw. Those fortunate to have never been sexually abused should read this as an account of a terror that needs to be extinguished. Those who have been abused will look to this book as representation of one woman's survival.

TIP: as the book's designer, I happen to know Moore will be publishing another remarkable book of southern Russian images in the near feature. Keep a lookout - Moore is definitely on a roll.

Yes, they call them "Luthiers," and this is one of the books that will get you started in learning the trade. But, you need not have building guitars for a living as your goal to enjoy and value this book.

Anyone who has a broken or damaged instrument, should know when it is time to take it to a Luthier for the needed repair, or when it is something he might tackle himself. In the latter case, it would be well to have this book, and one written by Hideo Kamimoto, called Complete Guitar Repair. Of the two books, this one is by far the most complete, as you might expect. Kamimoto's book is more specifically aimed at repairs, as the title suggests.

Any guitar player, after he or she learns the scales and how to place their hands and fingers on the instrument and to tune it, will sooner or later develop a respect and curiosity for their instrument. They will want to know what makes one instrument sound better than another, or why the action is harder on the fingers on one, and relatively soft and quick on another.

What is the difference in strings, what wood gives the best resonance in a sound board, why the differences in sizes and shapes?

Gradually, as your interest widens, you will come to this kind of book. This is one of the best. From it, you will learn all of the above, and more. If you are willing to invest years, and acquire the tools and the skills, perhaps you will eventually build your own guitar. But, whether you do or not, this is a valuable book for any guitar aficionado.

Joseph Pierre

This is a great gift for wives to give their husbands. Not only will reading the book remove a great deal of the fear of the unknown, but it will also prepare their man to become a better father and ultimately a better husband!

My writing class is directed at college undergrads and grad students. I tried a number of books, but settled on Williams and have been using it since the 2nd edition. I find that students can make an enormous improvement in their writing in just ten weeks.

If your goal is to learn the kind of writing that will help you explain a process, change someone's mind, or write the winning proposal, Williams is your man. Don't read it all in one session, and you must actually do the exercises.

Try a chapter a week. It works.

Charles Lave, University of California, Irvine

Joseph Williams's Style: Toward Clarity and Grace is an exception. It is the only truly useful book on English prose style that I have ever found. Even Strunk and White cannot compete with the quality of the advice that Williams gives. Perhaps more important, the advice that Williams gives can be used. As Williams puts it, his aim is to go "beyond platitudes." Advice like "'Be clear' is like telling me to 'Hit the ball squarely.' I know that. What I don't know is how to do it." Williams tells us how to do it.

Williams's advice is particularly useful because it is reader based. Most books on style are rule-based: follow these rules and you will be a good writer. Williams recognizes that clear writing is writing that makes the reader feel clear about what he or she is reading. This difference in orientation makes Williams's advice much more profound: he has a theory of why the rules are what they are (and what to do when the rules conflict) that books that focus on rules alone lack.

His advice starts at the level of the sentence. Williams believes that readers find sentences easy to read and understand when the logic of the thought follows the logic of the sentence: the subjects of sentences should be the actors, and the verbs of the sentence should be the crucial actions. The beginning of a sentence should look back and connect the reader with the ideas that have been mentioned before. The end of the sentence should look forward, and is the place to put new ideas and new information.

His advice continues at the level of the paragraph. The sentences that make up a paragraph should have consistent topics. New topics and new themes should be found at the end of a paragraph's introductory sentence (or sentences). Readers will find a paragraph to be coherent if it has one single articulate summary sentence, which is almost always found either at the end of the paragraph or as the last of the paragraph's introductory sentences.

His advice concludes with four chapters on being concise, on figuring out the appropriate length, on being elegant, and on using constructions that do not jar the reader. I think that these last four chapters are less successful than the other chapters of the book. They contain much sound advice. But the argument of the book becomes more diffuse. The first six chapters present and illustrate overarching organizing principles for achieving clarity, coherence, and cohesion. The last four chapters present long lists of things to try to do. (However, the fangs-bared attack on "pop grammarians" found in the last chapter is fun to read.)

So, gentle reader, if you want to become a better writer of English, go buy and work through this book. I, at least, have never found a better.