--- product_id: 5288123 title: "Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace" price: "KD 34.70" currency: KWD in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/5288123-style-the-basics-of-clarity-and-grace store_origin: KW region: Kuwait --- # Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace **Price:** KD 34.70 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace - **How much does it cost?** KD 34.70 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.kw](https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/5288123-style-the-basics-of-clarity-and-grace) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description desertcart.com: Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace: 9780321953308: Williams, Joseph, Bizup, Joseph: Books Review: An excellent guide to clear writing - The book is fantastic. Hardly thicker than Strunk&White, it couldn’t be more different. Real advice, understandable explanations, illuminating examples, and a wide scope of relevant topics. Refreshingly, Williams eschews trite pearls of wisdom; he in fact devotes ample space to educate the reader about counterexamples to classical dogma, cases where opinions rehashed by venerated “authorities” really hurt. Yes, short sentences are great, but if you can’t write a long sentence that’s also understandable, you’re like a composer who cannot produce anything but jingles. Yes, using an active voice makes your writing more forceful and direct, but you will surprisingly often encounter situations where a passive construction is significantly preferable, for it eases the flow of information. (Besides, being forceful and direct is not always a virtue.) And yes, you’re on a good path if you can write good sentences, but if you can’t create cohesion between them, and coherence over a whole paragraph, your writing will remain opaque. I’m even in the target audience of the book: it’s not written for poets, it’s for people who need to communicate information (academics, journalists, but probably foremost: college students learning how to write essays). Hence, many examples are not too far away from what I deal with on a day-to-day basis, when writing grants, papers, or referee reports. The book closes with a beautiful reminder to those who don’t know why to bother with good writing, when there’s so much terrible writing going around. I quote: “What experienced readers know, and you eventually will, is that clear and graceful writers are so few that when we find them, we are desperately grateful. They do not go unrewarded." If that's no motivation to care, then I don't know what is. There’s so much in this book that I loved—lessons, attitude, motivation, and more—that I can confidently recommend it to anyone who cares to improve their writing. What I don’t know yet, though, is whether the longer version of the book, “Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace”, is even better, or says the same in more words and on more pages. But I will find out! Review: A must-have - A must-have for every writer and editor. Not much else to say. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #106,827 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #15 in Creative Writing & Composition #53 in Rhetoric (Books) #198 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 187 Reviews | ## Images ![Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71D0nsnfvlL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An excellent guide to clear writing *by D***O on September 16, 2015* The book is fantastic. Hardly thicker than Strunk&White, it couldn’t be more different. Real advice, understandable explanations, illuminating examples, and a wide scope of relevant topics. Refreshingly, Williams eschews trite pearls of wisdom; he in fact devotes ample space to educate the reader about counterexamples to classical dogma, cases where opinions rehashed by venerated “authorities” really hurt. Yes, short sentences are great, but if you can’t write a long sentence that’s also understandable, you’re like a composer who cannot produce anything but jingles. Yes, using an active voice makes your writing more forceful and direct, but you will surprisingly often encounter situations where a passive construction is significantly preferable, for it eases the flow of information. (Besides, being forceful and direct is not always a virtue.) And yes, you’re on a good path if you can write good sentences, but if you can’t create cohesion between them, and coherence over a whole paragraph, your writing will remain opaque. I’m even in the target audience of the book: it’s not written for poets, it’s for people who need to communicate information (academics, journalists, but probably foremost: college students learning how to write essays). Hence, many examples are not too far away from what I deal with on a day-to-day basis, when writing grants, papers, or referee reports. The book closes with a beautiful reminder to those who don’t know why to bother with good writing, when there’s so much terrible writing going around. I quote: “What experienced readers know, and you eventually will, is that clear and graceful writers are so few that when we find them, we are desperately grateful. They do not go unrewarded." If that's no motivation to care, then I don't know what is. There’s so much in this book that I loved—lessons, attitude, motivation, and more—that I can confidently recommend it to anyone who cares to improve their writing. What I don’t know yet, though, is whether the longer version of the book, “Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace”, is even better, or says the same in more words and on more pages. But I will find out! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A must-have *by B***. on March 12, 2025* A must-have for every writer and editor. Not much else to say. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ but it is not an easy read. *by S***N on October 19, 2018* This is a very technical book on writing. It is beneficial as a doctoral student, but it is not an easy read. ## Frequently Bought Together - Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace - The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present - The Contemporary American Essay --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/5288123-style-the-basics-of-clarity-and-grace](https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/5288123-style-the-basics-of-clarity-and-grace) --- *Product available on Desertcart Kuwait* *Store origin: KW* *Last updated: 2026-05-18*