Reviews for The Art of Spelling: The Madness and the Method

The average rating for The Art of Spelling: The Madness and the Method based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-06-09 00:00:00 David Jones I'll just cut to the chase for everyone'the author's 'method' is essentially writing every word you misspell 10 times in a row whenever you misspell it. I was expecting something with more cleverness. I will say, however, that this book provides excellent justification for anyone who wants to improve their English learning the basics of the Latin roots of our words. This is one thing that helped improve my own spelling immensely. (So did getting a copy of Spell Check, a small and sturdy reference book I keep by my computer.) Other learn-how-spell tip I learned from a woman who was a Northwern J-School grad: pneumonic devices for all the words we habitually misspell. (Ex.: the three Es in 'cemetery' are lined up like little tombstones.) This manual just isn't remarkable enough for me to recommend.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-02-09 00:00:00 Richard Sudborough I've always been fascinated by language (my mom, the elementary school librarian, found a book in her to-be-discarded pile about word origins, and brought it home for me - being that I had been the only kid to ever sign it out, 15 or so years before) but this book really tested that fascination. If you want to wade through a dense thicket of information on the history of spelling, it's great. If you are really trying to improve your spelling and you're looking for ways to do so, skip the first 2/3 and just read the bit on the exercises at the end - if you try to wade through the first part, you'll never make it. Even the suggestions given for working on spelling would daunt anyone but the most determined. She basically wants people to carry a dictionary around with them at all times, along with a notebook for listing words you have difficulty spelling. If this method works for you, go for it! I heartily applaud you... but I think most people would find this book less than helpful.