Write More Good: An Absolutely Phony Guide (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
The AP style book was my Bible all my years in the newspaper business. Not that I actually paid much attention to it. Most of it was common sense, a lot of it arcane, and some of it verging on silly.It used to say, for example, that all federal agencies or departments must be referred to by their full official titles the first time you wrote about them in a story. Which led to the silliness of writing "the Federal Bureau of investigation", which everyone in the world knows better as the FBI. In fact, FBI is immediately more comprehensible than the full title on a quick read, which is all any newspaper story gets.So when I saw in Village Books, my favorite bookstore, "An absolute phony guide on how to Write More Good," a delightful parody of newspaper stylebook, I had to buy it. It has strictures on everything from politics to science writing, sex to religion. The religion section is the shortest. The only entry is "Not on your life."There is a preface by Roger Ebert that includes one of my favorite quotes from my newspaper days: "If your mother says she loves you, check it out." [A.A. Dornfeld].Ebert notes that many newsmen live by another motto: "Never check a great quote twice."He adds: "The authors of (this book) exists in the no man's land between these quotes. They know about Dornfeld's rule. They also give voice to the deep cynicism and cheerfully ironic worldview that has infected city rooms since time immemorial."Probably my favorite part of the book are the definitions. Under entertainment, for example, we find:Clear Channel - See Skynetfrak - Should only be used if you're fighting Cylons.free verse - Poetry written by lazy people.It made me nostalgic for the good old days. Very funny book satirizing the newspaper business. I was hoping for more grammar and writing jokes, that I used to see come across the @FakeAPStyleGuide twitter account, and as implied by the title. Nevertheless, it was a great commentary on politics and the news of the last 3,000 years, broken into categories like Computers and Legal. I LOLed in a few places. Disclaimed: I got this book for free. Won it in a Twitter contest.
What do You think about Write More Good: An Absolutely Phony Guide (2011)?
The funniest fake journalism textbook I've ever read. Maybe the funniest book I ever read, period.
—mayasa
Absolutely hilarious. Great satire and humor. Required reading for any journalist
—pari
From the folks behind the @FakeAPStyle twitter feed.
—ilana
