THE GOLDEN BOOK ON WRITING

Dartmouth's Professor Lambuth disliked any kind of writing which was prolix, obscure, inert, abstract, slovenly or colloquial. His long out-of-print booklet on writing is full of royally blunt pronunciamentos: ""If you have a nail to hit, hit it on the head."" ""Nouns build up the bony structure of the sentence. Verbs produce motion."" ""Learn to write by reading well."" ""Obscurity is not profundity. Neither is it art."" ... Professor Lambuth's book makes a precision instrument of the English language -- it will surely take its place along side of (or displace?) other elements of style and is short enough to hold the shortest attention spans.