Specific books, and general categories. Some of these books have been reviewed here before, but I thought it might be useful for people to have all of them in one place.
Read MoreReference books, by Terry Freedman
Bookshelf
Review: Story Craft
Why shouldn’t nonfiction writing be as well-crafted, interesting, even exciting as fiction?
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Review of How to be a writer, by Marcus Berkmann
The life of a freelance writer is one of unreliable remuneration, shifting loyalties and sudden endings, as this book makes abundantly clear.
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Click to see this on the publisher’s website
Two reviews for the price of one! Engineering in Plain Sight
in Bookshelf
I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published.
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Click to see this book on the publisher’s website
Two reviews for the price of one! Climate Change for Dummies
in Bookshelf
I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published.
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Click to see this book on the publisher’s website
Two reviews for the price of one! Story Machines
in Bookshelf
I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote!
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Click to see this book on the publisher’s website
Two for the price of one: Reviews of No Excuses Turning around one of Britain’s toughest schools
in Bookshelf
Written mainly in the form of a diary, this is an account of how Colwell’s headship changed the culture of a community’s school.
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Please click on the cover to see this book on the publisher’s website
Two Book Reviews for the price of one! Futureproof: A Comprehensive Framework For Teaching Digital Citizenship In Schools
in Bookshelf
I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote!
Read MoreBook review: Brave New World -- the graphic novel
in Bookshelf
I submitted my review of this book to Teach Secondary magazine, an educational magazine in the UK. The first review below is what the magazine published. The second one is what I actually wrote!
Read MoreEssay for an advanced literary course
One of the things we should all do as writers is study other people's works to try to discern how they achieved particular effects, or how they use language. It's known as 'close reading'.
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On this day: Oulipo books
in Bookshelf, Oulipo, On this day, Reviews
On 17 June 2021 I wrote a round-up of my reviews of books about the Oulipo. Here’s a link to that article.
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Books to be reviewed ,by Terry Freedman
Indexes and tables of contents
in Bookshelf, Reflections
One of the first things I look for when reviewing a non-fiction book is whether or not it contains an index. If it does, the next thing I check is whether the index is actually useful.
Read MoreBook review: A Head Full of Everything: Inspiration for Teenagers With the World on Their Mind
Being a teenager is not easy.
Read MoreReview: Murder Your Darlings
The book covers language, voice, audience and other aspects of writing.
Read MoreReview: A Little Book of Language
It's always been my contention that practitioners should know as much about what they do as possible.
Read MoreReview: How to read like a writer
This is a very interesting, and useful, book. It covers a range of types of writing.
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Click to see this book on Thames and Hudson’s website.
Review of Gothic: An Illustrated History (expanded review)
If watching a film in a cinema makes you wish you’d brought a friend along to walk home with, or reading a story makes you leave all the lights on when you go to bed, then there’s a good chance the film or the story was gothic.
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Click the cover to see this on Thames and Hudson’s website.
Review of Gothic: An Illustrated History -- Education version
in Bookshelf, Reviews, Short form
This review was first published in Teach Secondary magazine. I’ve included it here because it meets some of the requirements of the English Programme of Study.
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On this day: The Greek Myths
in Bookshelf, On this day, Reviews
If you have forgotten what bad writing looks like, read on…
Read MoreReview: The New Penguin Book of American Short Stories
It is also worth bearing in mind that some of the best nonfiction writers, notably Gay Talese, make copious use of the fiction writer's tools.
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