Aug 3, 2009
A problem with English usage books…but isn’t this also a problem with almost all books?
People who are going to be interested in such a book are also the people who are least going to need it.
-David Foster Wallace, “Authority and American Usage,” Consider the Lobster, 69
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Interesting point…but true.
I just read that essay on Saturday. Who knew a review of a Dictionary could be so engaging and entertaining?
I love the random quotes from my two favorite three-named authors (David James Duncan and David Foster Wallace). Actually, they might be my favorite authors among any number of names.
The quote is a corollary to Proverbs 13:1 (among other proverbs):
“A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a mocker does not listen to rebuke.”
The same is certainly true of books providing a guide in ‘how to be organized’.