For more than a decade, Clear and Simple as the Truth has guided readers to consider style not as an elegant accessory of effective prose but as its very heart. Francis-Noël Thomas and Mark Turner present writing as an intellectual activity, not a passive application of verbal skills. In classic style, the motive is truth, the purpose is presentation, the reader and writer are intellectual equals, and the occasion is informal. This general style of presentation is at home everywhere, from business memos to personal letters and from magazine articles to student essays. Everyone talks about style, but no one explains it. The authors of this book do; and in doing so, they provoke the reader to consider style, not as an elegant accessory of effective prose, but as its very heart.
At a time when writing skills have virtually disappeared, what can be done? If only people learned the principles of verbal correctness, the essential rules, wouldn't good prose simply fall into place? Thomas and Turner say no. Attending to rules of grammar, sense, and sentence structure will no more lead to effective prose than knowing the mechanics of a golf swing will lead to a hole-in-one. Furthermore, ten-step programs to better writing exacerbate the problem by failing to recognize, as Thomas and Turner point out, that there are many styles with different standards.
The book is divided into four parts. The first, "Principles of Classic Style," defines the style and contrasts it with a number of others. "The Museum" is a guided tour through examples of writing, both exquisite and execrable. "The Studio," new to this edition, presents a series of structured exercises. Finally, "Further Readings in Classic Prose" offers a list of additional examples drawn from a range of times, places, and subjects. A companion website, classicprose.com, offers supplementary examples, exhibits, and commentary, and features a selection of pieces written by students in courses that used Clear and Simple as the Truth as a textbook.
Francis-Nöel Thomas is professor emeritus of humanities at Truman College, City Colleges of Chicago.
Mark Turner is Institute Professor and professor of cognitive science at Case Western Reserve University.
评分
评分
评分
评分
这本书的价值,我认为远超出了其纸面上的内容本身,它成功地营造了一种极强的“参与感”。作者在阐述观点时,经常采用一种邀请式的语气,仿佛在与读者进行一场跨越时空的深度对话。他不会一味地灌输,而是抛出一些看似简单却极富挑战性的情境或悖论,让读者自然而然地代入其中,去思考“如果是我,我会怎么做/怎么想”。这种互动性使得阅读过程充满了活力,让人时刻保持着高度的警觉和投入。很多时候,我甚至会忍不住在书页空白处写下自己的反驳、疑问或者赞同的批注,这本书因此成为了一本“活的”书籍,充满了我的个人思考痕迹。这种能激发读者主动参与、而非被动接受的特质,是区分平庸读物和真正经典的重要标志,它让我们感到,我们不是在阅读别人的思想,而是在共同构建一个理解世界的框架。
评分阅读过程中,我深刻体会到作者在构建知识体系时所展现出的那种建筑师般精准的逻辑结构。全书的脉络清晰得令人惊叹,每一个章节的论点都不是孤立存在的,而是如同精密的齿轮般咬合在一起,共同推动着核心思想向前发展。当你读到某个关键性的论述时,会发现它早已在前面章节中埋下了伏笔,这种前后呼应的精妙布局,体现了作者对整体框架的宏观把控能力。更难能可贵的是,作者并没有固守某一种单一的论证模式,而是灵活地运用了演绎法、归纳法,甚至穿插了大量的反向论证来强化自己的观点,使得论证过程极具说服力。这种结构上的严谨性,保证了无论你从哪个章节开始阅读,都能迅速抓住其核心逻辑,但同时,只有从头到尾系统阅读,才能真正领会到其思想的深度与广度,体会到那份层层递进、水到渠成的震撼感。
评分这本书对我个人认知世界的角度产生了微妙而深远的影响,它更像是一面镜子,让我开始审视那些过去习以为常却从未深思过的基本假设。它不是直接给出答案,而是提供了一整套全新的“提问”方式,引导读者从更基础的、更纯粹的层面去解构既有的观念。我记得有一次,在读到关于“确定性”的探讨时,我突然停了下来,开始回想自己日常生活中许多决策背后的驱动力,那些平日里被视为铁律的信条,在作者的引导下,竟然显得如此脆弱和具有偶然性。这种被触动和唤醒的感觉,是阅读一本好书最宝贵的体验——它让你不再满足于表面的认知,而是渴望深入事物的肌理之中。这种思维方式的转变是潜移默化的,但一旦发生,便会持续地影响你对未来所有信息的过滤和加工过程,实实在在地拓宽了心智的边界。
评分这本书的装帧设计简直是一场视觉盛宴,那种低调的奢华感扑面而来,让人忍不住想立刻翻开它。封面选用的材质触感非常细腻,光是摩挲就能感受到制作者的用心良苦,深沉的底色与烫金的字体形成了鲜明的对比,既有历史的厚重感,又不失现代的简约美学。我尤其喜欢它在细节处理上的那种克制与精准,书脊处的装订线处理得极其平整牢固,即便是经常翻阅,也完全不用担心散页的问题。内页的纸张选择也十分考究,米白色的纸张在灯光下阅读,眼睛丝毫没有疲惫感,油墨的印刷清晰锐利,每一个字符都仿佛经过了精心的雕琢,散发出一种沉稳而可靠的气息。这种对物理形态的极致追求,无疑为阅读体验打下了坚实的基础,让人在尚未进入内容之前,就已经对作者和出版方产生了极大的敬意。它不仅仅是一本书,更像是一件值得珍藏的艺术品,摆在书架上,本身就是一道亮丽的风景线,散发着知识沉淀后的独特魅力。
评分这本书的语言风格,可以说是将“平易近人”与“思想深刻”完美地融合在了一起。它不像某些学术著作那样故作高深,充斥着晦涩难懂的术语和绕来绕去的长句,反而像是一位睿智的长者,坐在壁炉旁,娓娓道来那些最本质的道理。行文的节奏感把握得极其到位,张弛有度,该深入剖析时绝不含糊,该点到为止时又恰到好处,给予读者充分的思考空间。读下去的过程中,我感觉自己仿佛被一只无形的手温柔地牵引着,穿梭于不同的概念之间,每一次的转折都自然流畅,毫无突兀之感。作者的遣词造句功力深厚,即便是描述宏大复杂的哲学命题,也能用极其生活化、甚至带着一丝幽默感的比喻来加以阐释,极大地降低了理解的门槛,让那些原本高悬于云端的理论变得触手可及。这种亲切感,让阅读过程变成了一种享受,而不是一场艰苦的攀登。
评分读的想死,这根本不是教你怎么写作的一本书,这是认知学的书啊!!!
评分这本书反正不是classic style 初衷不错,但写得实在一遍,我需要冷静一阵子再回看
评分刷新世界观,解答了我的很多困惑,让我认识到patrick对于我的训练的深层意义,以及这本书恰恰几乎全是classic style
评分这本书反正不是classic style 初衷不错,但写得实在一遍,我需要冷静一阵子再回看
评分这本书反正不是classic style 初衷不错,但写得实在一遍,我需要冷静一阵子再回看
本站所有内容均为互联网搜索引擎提供的公开搜索信息,本站不存储任何数据与内容,任何内容与数据均与本站无关,如有需要请联系相关搜索引擎包括但不限于百度,google,bing,sogou 等
© 2026 book.quotespace.org All Rights Reserved. 小美书屋 版权所有