Pen, Typewriter, and Laptop

William Zinsser
Portrait by Thomas Buechner
Source: Smithsonian, April 2007

I recently wrote about William Zinsser and my absolute favorite book on writing, his On Writing Well (here). To my delight I discovered that Mr. Zinsser's columns written for The American Scholar's website have been collected in the book entitled The Writer Who Stayed.

I could not resist its bright red cover featuring the evolving tools of a writer: pen, typewriter, and laptop. I have used them all.

I feel a particular kinship to Mr. Zinsser...almost as if he were a personal writing professor of mine. I have met him and have read his book on writing so many times that when I write I sense he is standing over my shoulder whispering: Simplify, simplify.

The essays in this book published in 2012 cover culture and the arts; travel; baseball (he is a big fan of the sport, as am I); the good, the bad, and the ugly of technology; and, who knows what other surprises he has in store for me. 

I am so happy to have My Professor with me again in this new book and will be writing about it soon.