In Better Wordpower, Janet Whitcut provides language lovers and serious writers -- and anyone who wants to improve his or her communications skills -- with a wealth of advice and information. Whitcut tackles a variety of subjects, ranging from common pitfalls of spelling -- for instance, "confusable" words (alternate/alternative, bail/bale) -- to frequently seen foreign phrases such as amour propre (self respect), faux pas (tactless blunder), and pis aller (a last resort). Indeed, she explores many powerful ways of building one's vocabulary, including a list of antonyms and a section of word endings -- such as dozens of words that end in -phobia, from agoraphobia, to Celtophobia (fear of Celts), to vermophobia (fear of worms). The latter half of the book is a smorgasbord of words, packed with specialized vocabulary lists, including a lexicon of hard words, from aam (a former liquid wine measure) to zymosis (fermentation).

Here then is a book that will appeal to anyone who wants to write better, filled with useful tips for the beginning as well as the advanced writer. It will be a special delight for all word lovers.