No Uncertain Terms: More Writing from the Popular "On Language" Column in the New York Times Magazine

by William Safire

Book Overview

There is no wittier, more amiable or more astute word maven than Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist William Safire. For many people, the first item on the agenda for Sunday morning is to sit down and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743242432
• ISBN13: 9780743242431
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Remains More Current Than Most Collections

First off, it's somewhat intimidating to review a book authored by such a master of the English language. While I am of the opinion that I am a somewhat talented writer, there are days when I covet the ability and skills demonstrated weekly by Safire in his language columns.This leads me to the usual problem with books such as this one, which are compendiums of columns that have already appeared in the paper months or even years ago. In this case, most of these columns were written during the height of the impeachment case against President Clinton. In our current society where news is reported instantly via the internet, the news events mentioned in this book seem like they happened so long ago.Still, due to the subject matter of focusing on language and its use, the information (or content as Safire points out) is still interesting, humours and educational. He also updates the columns with gotcha letters sent to him from fans around the world who love to catch him on his errors. Also, for those of you who might bristle regarding his political views or history as a Nixon employee can put the bias aside and enjoy the book. I'm downgrading it from five to four stars because of the recency issue, but recommend it and also recommend his weekly column.