The article is fun to read, I don't know if I'd like the book though. Mr. Zinsser seems to be manufacturing is own chactacter, a trait I don't care for, so I doubt if I'd enjoy his writing. I might try it though.
The author calls himself "a child of the Eastern establishment," and certainly some of the standard indicia are there. He went to Princeton and taught for a time at Yale. He never goes out without a hat, and it isn't a baseball cap; it is a Panama in summer and a wide-brimmed Borsalino in winter. His jacket is from J. Press and no doubt displays the patina of loving wear and patched elbows. He is a lifelong New Yorker who walks to his office from an apartment.
Nope, I don't think we'd get along swimmingly. Despite that there was this one snippet that started my grey cells to churning.
As for our hypnotic love affair with electronic toys, he deplores what it has done to manners. He doesn't use email and is offended by the term "snail mail," patronizing as it is to the dedicated workers of the U.S. Postal Service who get our checks and bills to us on time.
I don't have much love for the USPS, but I think it would be fun to try and go a year without using a computer, a cell phone, a blog, an email account or anything. That would be a fun book to write. Would my job be willing to provide me funds for it? Doubtful. And what about all the readers of this blog? Where would you go for insight on arcane WSJ articles?
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