On Writing Well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet. Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you fundamental priciples as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more than a million copies sole, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valuable resource for writers and would-be writers.

→ 什麼是好的寫作？好的寫作是有生氣的，兩個最重要的特質是「人味」與「溫度」。
→ 「我是為誰而寫？」答案是：你是為你自己而寫。千萬別設想你有一群廣大的讀者，每一個讀者都是不一樣的人。
→ 強加的風格就像禿頭戴了一頂假髮，讀者一眼就會看出你在裝腔作勢──讀者要的是真心跟他們說話的人。
→ 大部分的文章初稿都可以刪掉一半，也不會減損任何訊息或是喪失作者的聲音。
→ 一篇文章如何結束遠比大部分作家認為的更重要得多。完美的結語必須讓讀者感到驚訝，但又合情合理。
→ 幽默是非虛構類作家的祕密武器，很少有作家知道幽默通常是他們在闡述重要觀點時最好的──有時還是唯一的工具。……
不論在什麼時代，透過什麼媒介或語言，好文章都有著共通的特質，要寫得好，也有法則可循。透過這本書，美國一代非虛構寫作名師威廉．金瑟想告訴你的，就是這些根本的寫作關鍵。
威廉．金瑟曾任教於耶魯大學、哥倫比亞大學多年，也曾擔任美國最大圖書俱樂部編輯，並為各頂尖雜誌撰稿，在寫作、編輯、評論、教學上都有豐富的經驗，因此能夠精準指導各領域、從入門到進階的寫作者，寫出忠於自我、打動人心的非虛構作品。而這本被《紐約時報》奉為「寫作者聖經」、已暢銷四十年不墜的《非虛構寫作指南》，正是他長年經驗與思想的集結。
「雖然這本書講的是寫作，但是絕對不是只寫給作家看的：書中的原則適用於任何一個在日常生活中必須要寫東西的人。」
在書中，他將寫作的精要分為「原則」、「方法」、「形式」、「態度」四大部分，拆解寫出好文章的竅門，並進一步實際說明七大非虛構寫作領域的書寫技藝，以及解析經典文章好在哪裡，可以如何借鏡──
→ 人物訪談裡最生動的文字，莫過於某人講述他在想什麼或做什麼──而且是以他自己的話來說。
→ 寫科技領域時，寫出「線性結構」的句子才是王道，並要想像它是一個倒金字塔，從狹窄的事實開始著手。
→ 商務上的寫作也可以有點溫度：多用第一人稱和主動動詞。要記得讀者認同的是人，而不是「獲利率」這樣的抽象名詞，或是沒有生命的句型結構。
→ 藝術評論最重要的就是要提出個人觀點且堅定表達立場，不能到了最後一刻突然規避問題，削弱文章的力道。……
在書中，金瑟以清晰溫暖的筆法和我們分享他對寫作的所有心得，毫不藏私。只要你想學習寫作，不論想寫的是人物、地方、科技、商業、運動、藝術或是你自己，這本書都將給你實際指引，教你如何寫出有人味及溫度、獨具風格的好文章。

has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet. Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre,
offers you fundamental priciples as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more than a million copies sold, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valuable resource for writers and would-be writers.

This highly original book by William Zinsser, author of the classic guide On Writing Well, tells you how to write about the people and places and events in your life that have been important to you—whether you’re writing a memoir, a family history or just a recollection of experiences you’d like to preserve or more fully understand. Zinsser’s method is to take you on a memoir of his own: 13 chapters in which he recalls dramatic, amusing and often inspiring moments in his long and unusually varied life as a writer, editor, teacher and traveler. Along the way in these memoirs William Zinsser pauses to explain the technical decisions he made as he wrote them. They are the same decisions you’ll have to make as you write about your own life: matters of selection, condensation, focus, attitude, voice and tone. Written with elegance, warmth and humor, Writing About Your Life gives you the tools to organize and recover your past and the confidence to believe in your life narrative. It also gives you permission—through the example of a life enriched by change and risk—to make bold life choices of your own.

Whether you write an occasional professional letter or a daily newspaper column, William Zinsser's On Writing Well should be required reading. Simplicity is Zinsser's mantra: he preaches a stripped-down writing style, strong and clear. He has no patience for excess (most use of adjectives and adverbs, he writes, just adds clutter) or tired phraseology (for instance, he'd like to outlaw all leads involving those "future archaeologists" most often found "stumbl[ing] upon the remains of our civilization"). He recommends that all writers of nonfiction read their work aloud (don't commit something to paper that you wouldn't actually say) and write under the assumption that "the reader knows nothing" (not to be confused with assuming the reader's an idiot). In addition to the chapters on the expected--usage, audience, interviews, leads--Zinsser also focuses on such trouble spots as science and technical writing, business writing, sports, and humor.

The revised and enlarged third edition of Zinsser's trusted writing guide covers the principles of good writing while including information on technical, business and sports writing, humor, interviews, working with a word processor, sexism, and a writer's attitudes toward language and craft.