Economical Writing by Deirdre N. McCloskey
A Harvard Economics Professor recommended this book to me 5 years ago. I got it immediately. Unfortunately, it did not stick at the time. I was not a voracious reader, back then. I regret not reading it, as it would have helped my writing in college a lot. Well, you can't change that now. But, I can improve my writing now, and this book does give you a lot of great ways to do that.
The book is short, around 100 pages, and a few pages per chapter. Each chapter is a suggestion on how to become a better writer.
Even though this book is titled and marketed as a book for economists, in reality, it can help anyone to improve their writing (especially, nonfiction writers).
The first and the biggest truth about writing is that we all-you, I, and Dave Barry-can use more criticism. We would be a lot more professional if we took more of it.
Now the influence of mere style is greater than you think. The history of ideas has many wide turns caused by "mere" lucidity and elegance of expression. Galileo's Dialogo of 1632 persuaded people that the earth went around the sun, but not because it was a Copernican tract (there were others) or because it contained much new evidence (it did not). It was persuasive because it was a masterpiece of Italian prose.
