Only a particular type of person would enjoy this book.

Brilliant! A must read for writers and anyone interested in writing with a clean, concise style.

I'm running out of Bill Bryson books to read. I've taken to reading his dictionary.

"Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer's Guide to Getting It Right" was the author's first published book (it has undergone several updates since debuting in 1984). If you are unfamiliar with the author, then please allow this brief contextual diversion.

Bill Bryson has written several humorous, erudite and grouchy travelogues, hiking memoirs, and scientific explainers. Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, Bryson moved abroad and worked as a copy editor for major papers in London. There, he daily felt the weight of the English language's pedantic rules, peculiarities and general troublesomeness. This experience led to the first edition of "Dictionary."

(Side note: Bryson likely has some genetic predisposition to writing. His father -- Bill Bryson, Sr. -- was arguably the greatest baseball writer we have ever known.)

Now, back to "Dictionary of Troublesome Words" -- which is a somewhat troublesome title for this book. This is much more a style guide in the vein of AP or Chicago. Not sure about the rules governing lay, lie or laid? Wondering about punctuation placement with regard to quotation marks and parentheses? Stressing about split infinitives? This is the guide for you.

If you don't write professionally (or as a hobby), this might be the first time you've heard of a style guide. They are invaluable, of course. The standard for American journalism is the Associated Press Style Guide, a copy of which can be found on the desk of every reporter and editor at every newspaper and magazine in the United States. Bryson's "Dictionary" isn't a replacement for any of your go-to style guides, but it is another helpful arrow in your quiver.

Note that though Bryson is a humorous fellow (though not a humerus fellow, check page 100 of "Dictionary" for an explanation), this is a serious book. It is not "The Onion's Dictionary of Troublesome Words." Bryson's career as a professional writer and his experience as a copy editor for two of the world's great newspapers qualifies him as a master of both American and British English and lends his book credibility. Even still, you'll spot the characteristic Bryson wit and breeziness throughout.

If ever you were to read a dictionary cover-to-cover, do yourself a favor and make it this one.

Always fun to read someone else’s style guide. Lots of useful examples but the advice on Irish language words that are used in English is consistently incorrect.

Bryson is a salty curmudgeon ranting about the errors that he's found in various newspapers masquerading as a book. A very amusing read but not exactly a page turner.

If you love the English language, and if sometimes you pause and wonder whether what you have written doesn’t seem quite right and you spend minutes debating with yourself, this book is a highly entertaining read.
This must be the 5th or 6th Bryson book I’ve read.

This is an actual reference book, so I'm not sure I'll ever finish reading it.

Interesting, and I learned a lot from it. Certainly not a book for everyone; he brings to a very dull subject some life.

This should be a must-read book anyone who writes professionally. However, this is not to say that others should not read it. Everyone absolutely should. One who writes professionally, not necessarily a writer or author, however, must.

Besides being a dictionary-like book, it is sarcastically funny and has hint of grumpiness that Bill Bryson is well know for. A question popped in my head after finishing it, which was put into my head by a friend: Is there any topic that Bill Bryson hasn't written about?

The answer is obviously no. He has written about everything (I think). His writing always seems like meeting a dear friend over coffee (or a drink, if you like it hard), with nothing held back. Bill Bryson does the same in this book. Of course there will be some explanations in the book which some people think Bryson is wrong about, which of course they have the right to do. This is only a guide not strict rules to be followed. And even if you are a writer who likes to break the rules, please know that you can only break a rule if you know and understand it well. Otherwise it's just plain ignorance on your part.

A book for referencing, not reading.

I also find it quite quaint that back in the old days you had to remember how to spell words, rather than quickly looking them up!

If you have an interest in the words, grammar and spelling of one of the most confounding language - English - then this book is really interesting.
It was written for those who write, if they are interested in getting it right.
I was pleased to see I knew some things. I was also interested in things I got wrong and then there was a bunch of stuff I couldn’t pretend to understand. Shades of my life in Primary 7.

I will read anything by Bill Bryson, even a dictionary/instructional book. Because there ARE some silly and funny bits in there.
I would be interested to see how this might be updated with the progress of gender identities to included non-binary and gender neutral, as several of the rules and corrections revolve around "theirs" or "they" only ever being a plural pronoun, despite that being untrue even at the time of publication....
Definitely interesting and I learned some things!