What do you think?
Rate this book
Philosophy of Writing
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 13, 2026
I picked this up because I teach writing at the college level and was tired of stuffy writing textbooks that bore students to tears. Arndt’s writing is concise and compelling - he cuts straight to the heart of the question “Why Write at all?”
Although he does have a section on technical writing pointers and grammatical aids, the first half and the thrust of the book rests on exploring that fundamental question and taking a philosophical stab at how we can write with an aim towards truth, beauty, and goodness. Quoting thinkers like Nietzsche, Epictetus, Morrison, etc., he comes to the conclusion that writing is a path to understanding and ultimately towards wisdom as we work out our thinking. I will be using this book as a tool in my class to help them find the value in honing their writing skills and critical thinking.
Although he does have a section on technical writing pointers and grammatical aids, the first half and the thrust of the book rests on exploring that fundamental question and taking a philosophical stab at how we can write with an aim towards truth, beauty, and goodness. Quoting thinkers like Nietzsche, Epictetus, Morrison, etc., he comes to the conclusion that writing is a path to understanding and ultimately towards wisdom as we work out our thinking. I will be using this book as a tool in my class to help them find the value in honing their writing skills and critical thinking.
April 11, 2026
This is a book of two halves.
The first half is, I feel, the book that David Arndt wanted to write. It's about writing as an aid to thinking. It's both interesting and informative, leavened with examples and quotations from philosophers and writers. The main thrust is that writing is a powerful means of 'working out' what we think.
The second half is a 'how to' guide to writing well. My feeling is that the publisher encouraged him to write this section in order to generate more sales (the first part being too academic?). Arndt prefaces it by saying that most books on writing are very badly written, thus, in my opinion, rather undercutting this part of the content.
A good read but, as indicated above, I wasn't really convinced by the 'how to' section.
The first half is, I feel, the book that David Arndt wanted to write. It's about writing as an aid to thinking. It's both interesting and informative, leavened with examples and quotations from philosophers and writers. The main thrust is that writing is a powerful means of 'working out' what we think.
The second half is a 'how to' guide to writing well. My feeling is that the publisher encouraged him to write this section in order to generate more sales (the first part being too academic?). Arndt prefaces it by saying that most books on writing are very badly written, thus, in my opinion, rather undercutting this part of the content.
A good read but, as indicated above, I wasn't really convinced by the 'how to' section.
March 23, 2026
A great read, with a broad range of insight from philosophers. A great inspiration to get to writing myself.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews