Eyes Before Ease: The Unsolved Mysteries and Secret Histories of Spelling
By Larry Beason
* Publisher: McGraw-Hill
* Number Of Pages: 240
* Publication Date: 2006-07-24
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0071459545
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780071459549
Product Description:
Is spelling still important in the age of spellcheckers? Ask Dan Quayle
Part guide to better spelling, part paean to an endangered art, Eyes Before Ease is filled with fascinating trivia, historical asides, astute personal observations, and good-natured humor about why spelling is still important--even with the advent of spellcheckers. Professor Larry Beason argues that spelling is more than just the correct arrangement of letters--it sheds light on the human experience itself. It lets us communicate with other people, it indicates (right or wrong) our intelligence, and also brings us together as a community.
Beason also explains why our particular spelling system is so difficult, how to become a better speller, and why you should never trust a cyborg for the correct spelling of a homophone.
From the Back Cover
To err is human, but to spell correctly is better
In the age of automatic spell-checking, abbreviated text messaging, and on-the-fly Internet chatting is spelling still important? In this spirited and compelling book, award-winning English professor Larry Beason answers with a resounding yes.
In our electronic age, spelling is more important than ever. It's what makes us human, allowing us to communicate and come together in social groups. Even the smartest gorilla can't spell orthographobia. True, neither can some of the smartest humans. But to err is human and the English language is notoriously difficult. Why do we use the silent e? Why can't we spell fish g-h-o-t-i? Why does English have to be so complicated and chaotic? As Beason reveals, there is a method to the madness--and understanding it can help you go on to be a better speller.
In school, business, and daily life, people who spell better are more successful across the board. But they don't bother studying the dictionary because spelling is not about memorization. It's about grasping the underlying meaning of words. Such knowledge not only expands vocabulary, it also expands the mind, leading to fresh ideas, creativity, and new opportunities. Yet even some of our brightest thinkers have railed against the vagaries of English. From Noah Webster's campaign to spell thumb without the b to Teddy Roosevelt's assault on envelope to the proposed reforms of today's Simplified Spelling Society, people have long tried to make spelling easier. Most of their attempts have failed. In Eyes Before Ease, Larry Beason makes spelling accessible and understandable--without simplification.
Using intelligence, humor, and a little good-natured prodding, Beason untwists the complicated story of the English language, showing you the secrets behind prefixes and suffixes, the cryptic logic of silent letters, and the embedded prejudices that lurk inside some of our most common words. Eschewing the traditional textbook rules of grammar school, he offers ten "conventions," easy-to-follow guidelines to improve your spelling by differentiating between the endings -ible and -able, knowing when to double consonants, understanding a handful of Greek and Latin morphemes, and more.
When you finish reading this entertaining book, you'll not only be able to spell orthographobia, you'll understand what it means--and you may even overcome your fear of spelling.
"To reap the full fruits that life offers, you'll want to read Larry Beason's insightful and passionate case for spelling wisely and well."
--Richard Lederer, coauthor of Comma Sense: A Fun-damental Guide to Punctuation
No matter how much money is thrown at the problem, the Spelling Revolution will not occur in our lifetime nor in that of our children's children. We might as well initiate a fund drive to change the way the sun rises. Our imperfect system of spelling is so entrenched within our history, culture, and economy that it will not be seriously altered except through the normal channels of slow linguistic change--the ongoing, unpredictable development of language, which is just as likely to lead to greater complexity as to greater simplicity.--from Eyes Before Ease
Summary: Fascinating and Fun.
Rating: 5
I actually liked this better than Eats, Shoots, and Leaves--that author's snarky British tone didn't work for me, and her book's filled with mistakes. Beeson knows his subject inside and out, and if you love writing, and words, and their meaning, you'll highly enjoy this book. I've read just about every book out there like this, and Beeson has come up with some fresh, fascinating observations. His new rules for proper spelling are smart and practical. I learned quite a bit from this book, and I didn't think I would.
Summary: Eyes Before Ease
Rating: 4
This is a book in the vein of Lynne Truss' "Eats, Shoots and Leaves," only about spelling rather punctuation, and written with a slightly more serious tone. "Eyes Before Ease's" main themes are why spelling matters, how spelling in the English language became so goofy (a fair amount of blame seems to fall to the French, while we can thank the Viking invasions for it having gotten a lot simpler than it might've otherwise ended up) and, finally, what you can do to try to improve your own spelling skills.
"Eyes Before Ease" is particularly strong in its how-spelling-got-so-goofy section. Beason delivers an interesting and admirably brisk history of the English language, explaining how each step along the road that the English language traveled (from the Angles and Saxons through the Viking invasions and the Norman Conquest on to the modern era) has left its footprint in the way we spell words.
His concluding chapters on how to improve your spelling abilities could be very useful to students, teachers, copy editors and -- perhaps most of all -- anyone considering competing in a spelling bee!
The author, I think, might have make a little bit of a misstep by opening his book with a section arguing why spelling still matters, even in the age of the computer spell checker. It's definitely an argument worth making, but it seems like most of his potential readers are going to already think spelling is important -- otherwise it's unlikely they would even be picking up and starting a book devoted to the topic of spelling. So it feels rather like he's preaching to the choir. It might have been more savvy to have cast the material as "arguments you can use to convince others that spelling is important." But that's a pretty minor nit to pick about an otherwise fine book. |
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