“I just discovered Deirdre N. McCloskey’s Economical Writing, and I’ve been smiling ever since.”
Written by Roger C. Parker, Published and Profitable, 14 February, 2009. (Originally posted 18 Feb. 2009; reposted 24 February 2010.)
“Deirdre McCloskey’s Economical Writing is ‘required reading’ for all writing lovers.”
I just discovered Deirdre N. McCloskey’s Economical Writing, and I’ve been smiling ever since.
It’s one of the finest writing books I’ve ever read, a fitting companion to Strunk & White’s Elements of Style and a handful of other beautifully written, easily read, and thoroughly entertaining books about writing.
Seldom have I responded so positively and so quickly to a book as I did to this one. I fully agree with a reviewer who called Economical Writing, ‘perhaps the best brief book about writing ever written.’ (It’s only 112 pages.)
This is a passionately written book. It was written as a rally call for economists to pay more attention to clarity and conciseness in their writing. It had to be written because economists “typically undervalue the importance of clarity in their writing.”
In Chapter 2, ‘Writing is Thinking,’ the author debunks the idea that you can separate content from style. ‘It’s wrong. They are yolk and white in a scrambled egg.’ She continues in one of my favorite passages,
You do not learn the details of an argument until writing it in detail, and in writing the details you uncover flaws in the fundamentals. … Good writers in economics write self-critically and honestly, trying to say what they mean. They sometimes discover in the act of writing that what looked persuasive when floating vaguely in the mind looks foolish when moored to the page.
Economical Writing is neither an essay nor a rule book. It’s a dynamic, passionate, and informed conversation that reaffirms the importance of carefully chosen words and carefully constructed sentences, sentences that flow and paragraphs that persuade.
Economical Writing contains numerous examples and ideas, but, to me, the book’s glory is its affirmation of the idea that quality of writing matters–it’s more fun to read and more fun to write … there are few books that word and writing lovers can both learn from and enjoy so much.
I am ever in your debt for “Economical Writing”…. I have the original paper, have been haunted by its dictates for over 20 years and still regard it as involving one of the more important parts of my education.
Written by Brent on March 3rd, 2009.Thank you – most sincerely
Brent
Dear Brent,
That is so sweet—a teacher cannot get a more satisfying comment. Let me thank in turn Hal Melcher, who taught me writing in high school!
Regards,
Deirdre
Written by Deirdre McCloskey on March 4th, 2009.[...] at least, Deirdre McCloskey, who seem to know her stuff better than most, writes in her little gem Economical Writing: “[T]he proposition that property rigths matter to allocation in the case of high transaction [...]
Written by Economics Is Hard « Kvams on March 19th, 2009.Prof. McCloskey
I was directed to your website in some early chapter of Superfreakonomics, which I have just finsihed while on holiday with my family.
The original “Writing of Economics”, in its odd orange and brown cover design, was forever inmidst the mess of working papers, notes, articles, and data series, and would become an irreplacable guide in making my undergraduate thesis in economics, at Queen’s University in Canada in the early 1990s, readable, and enjoyably so. “Make sure you write like this,” my advisor would say.
The book is still in my office shelf today, a little beaten up at the edges. Many thanks for an enjoyable read!
Written by Nicolaus Harnack on February 20th, 2010.Dear Dr. Harnack,
Thanks very much! It’s the kind of letter that writers cherish.
Regards,
Deirdre McCloskey
Written by Deirdre McCloskey on February 27th, 2010.