The Sense of Style
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  • Published: 31 October 2019
  • ISBN: 9780141992334
  • Imprint: Penguin Audio
  • Format: Audio Download

The Sense of Style

The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century

Formats & editions
Paperback
21 Oct 2015
EBook
4 Sep 2014
Audiobook
31 Oct 2019
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The bestselling author of The Language Instinct deploys his gift for explaining difficult ideas in a short and entertaining writing guide for the 21st century

Brought to you by Penguin.

Bad writing can't be blamed on the Internet, or on 'the kids today'. Good writing has always been hard: a performance requiring pretense, empathy, and a drive for coherence. In The Sense of Style, cognitive scientist and linguist Steven Pinker uses the latest scientific insights to bring us a style and usage guide for the 21st century. What do skilful writers know about the link between syntax and ideas? How can we overcome the Curse of Knowledge, the difficulty in imagining what it's like not to know something we do? And can we distinguish the myths and superstitions from rules that enhance clarity and grace? As Pinker shows, everyone can improve their mastery of writing and their appreciation of the art (yes, 'their').

Winner, Plain English Campaign's International Award 2014: 'a superbly and clearly written celebration of the best, least fuzzy kind of writing.'
  • Published: 31 October 2019
  • ISBN: 9780141992334
  • Imprint: Penguin Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
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About the author

Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker is an experimental cognitive scientist. Currently Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard, he has also taught at Stanford and MIT. He has won many prizes for his research, teaching, and his eleven books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and Enlightenment Now. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Humanist of the Year, a recipient of nine honorary doctorates, one of Foreign Policy's 'World's Top 100 Public Intellectuals' and Time's '100 Most Influential People in the World Today'.

http://stevenpinker.com

portrait photo of Steven Pinker

Also by Steven Pinker

Enlightenment Now
The Better Angels of Our Nature
Rationality
Learnability and Cognition, new edition
The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television
The Stuff of Thought
The Blank Slate
See all