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<\/a><\/p>\nIt’s the summer, so I have time to read, both for work and for pleasure, and I have time to read books instead of just journal articles and blog posts. This made me realize that while a lot of my thinking has been shaped by things that I have read in journal articles (economics is an article-based field) and in blog posts (there is no better means of spreading important ideas quickly), a large part of my thinking has been shaped by books, which often contain more exciting ideas than journal articles–because they face less strict of a review process, books can be more daring in their claims, and thus have more chances of causing you to change how you view the world.<\/p>\n
So I decided to write\u00a0this series of posts on books that shaped my thinking. I talked about development books<\/a>,\u00a0about food and agriculture books<\/a>,\u00a0about economic theory books<\/a>, and about econometrics books<\/a> so far; this week I will talk about writing-related books. This will most likely be the last installment in this series–this blog is about the economics of agriculture, food, and development, I doubt anyone wants to know about the books that have shaped my thinking when it comes to fiction, or philosophy, or other things.<\/p>\n My view of writing advice has changed over the years. When I launched this\u00a0blog almost five years ago, I loved to read and talk about writing. After a while, I realized that if most of the people who talk constantly about writing spent more time writing instead of talking about writing, they would be much more productive, and so I made the conscious choice to write instead of talk about writing. There are few exceptions to this rule, and here they are.<\/p>\n Some recommendations are very general; others are eminently personal. I just hope you can find one or two that will also shape your own thinking. I’m sure I am forgetting a lot of important books I have read and which have also shaped my thinking, but I made this list by taking a quick look\u00a0at the bookshelves in my office.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Common Errors in English Language<\/em><\/a>, by Paul Brians. Before I got Brians’ book, I consulted his website about a million times. If you think there is only one selection criteria<\/i> to get admitted into a PhD program, if you think prices effect<\/em> quantity, and if you are the kind of person who orders an expresso<\/em>, Brians’ gentle sarcasm\u00a0will correct you and leave you smiling.<\/p>\n The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs<\/em><\/a>, by Charles Doyle.\u00a0I don’t use proverbs\u00a0very often when writing academic articles. But when writing for nonacademic audiences, or when giving talks, I sometimes like to use proverbs\u00a0to illustrate a point or to add color to my writing. What I like about this book is that you can search the index by the name of the person an anecdote refers to.<\/p>\n The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes<\/a><\/em>, by Clifton Fadiman. As with proverbs, I mostly use anecdotes when\u00a0writing for nonacademic audiences or when giving talks, as I find that\u00a0anecdotes can be\u00a0great to make a\u00a0point or for a bit of comic relief. Sometimes, I’ll even leaf through this book to read anecdotes about famous people. What I like about this book is that you can search the index by topic (e.g., money, patience, food, etc.)<\/p>\n Ernest Hemingway on Writing<\/em><\/a>, by Larry W. Phillips. Hemingway thought it was bad luck to talk about writing, so Phillips has assembled a collection of those rare instances where Hemingway did make an offhand remark about writing, and it makes for a very enjoyable read. Whether you suffered through The Old Man and the Sea<\/em> or absolutely loved For Whom the Bell Tolls<\/em>, you cannot deny that Hemingway could write, and the reasons why are distilled as best as possible in this book.<\/p>\n The Elements of Style<\/a><\/em>, by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. This a book everyone loves to hate, but it is perhaps the most useful book in A Guide for the Young Economist<\/em><\/a>, by William Thomson. If you plan on becoming an academic economist, Thomson’s book is great. He tells you how to effectively write papers and referee reports,\u00a0as well as how to prepare talks. Though the advice here is mostly for economic theorists, all of us will have to write or speak about theory at some point, so the advice is very useful for everyone. Note that this is the only econ-specific book in my list–I have read McCloskey’s Economical Writing<\/a><\/em> a few\u00a0times, but I don’t know that it has changed my thinking the way the books in this list did.<\/p>\n On Writing Well<\/a><\/em>, by William Zinsser. When it comes to writing nonfiction well, and not just writing without making mistakes, Zinsser is the man. He covers how to write for different kinds of audiences, how to write different kinds of articles (e.g., interviews, business writing, travelogues, etc.), and what to expect. It while reading\u00a0Zinsser that I realized that academic writing did not have to be boring, and that it was possible to have your own voice even when writing for an academic audience: If E.B. White could turn an article about hens into a page-turner (cue joke about agricultural economics), then I could certainly turn an article on food riots into something people actually enjoyed reading, and I could certainly write in a way that would make the people who know me say “That sounds exactly the way Marc would say it!”<\/p>\n I’m sure this lists omits many classics–for example my friend, coauthor, and erstwhile colleague Nick Carnes, who knows a thing or two about writing<\/a>,\u00a0swears by Joseph Williams’ Style<\/a><\/em>, which I have purchased but not yet read–but these are the books that have shaped my writing. What are yours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This post is part of\u00a0a continuing series on The Books that Have Shaped My Thinking. It’s the summer, so I have time to read, both<\/p>\na writer’s<\/del>\u00a0the arsenal of anyone who has to write for a living. I like this book not so much because it can teach you “style,” but because it teaches you how to write without making mistakes (e.g., how to use “e.g.” and “i.e.” properly), and as someone who went to school in English for the first time at the age of 25, this book has had a high return on investment.<\/p>\n