Bestselling author Bryson's latest book is really his first: this guideto usage, spelling and grammar was first published in 1983 when Bryson(In a Sunburned Country, etc.) was an unknown copyeditor at the LondonTimes, and has now been revised and updated for use in the U.S.Alphabetically arranged entries include commonly misspelled and misusedwords. He also includes common problems with grammar, as well as anappendix on punctuation. Bryson often cites the 1983 edition of H.W.Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern English Usage as an authority, though healso makes a handful of references to recent texts, such as the EncartaWorld English Dictionary and Atlantic Monthly columnist BarbaraWallraff's "Word Court." Despite the revisions, the book often betraysits origins as a British text, as in citing words in common usagethroughout the U.K. and British Commonwealth, but rarely used byAmerican writers, such as Taoiseach, the Prime Minister of Ireland orCity of London vs. city of London. In addition, Bryson avoids taking oncomputer lingo, such as distinguishing between the Internet and theWorld Wide Web. Despite these shortcomings, Bryson's erudition isevident and refreshing. His passage on split infinitives, for example,asserts that it is "a rhetorical fault a question of style and not agrammatical one." Readers looking for the author's trademark humor willnot find it here. Instead they will find a straightforward, concise,utilitarian guide, albeit one listing Bryson's "suggestions,observations, and even treasured prejudices" on newspaper writingprimarily in Britain, circa 1983.