When I first started this book, I thought I would end up giving it five stars. The first two chapters were amazing and the earliest parts of the book were honestly the best. They gave quick, effective examples that would help anyone better their writing skills. However, The middle and later parts of the book were not as effective. Pinker continually complains about the “curse of knowledge” and how knowing too much about a particular subject can cause you to use jargon or certain words that average readers won’t understand. However, he then makes mistakes that essentially boil down to the same thing. Since I have a degree in line with tax I understand much of what he’s talking about when he discusses things like descriptive English versus prescriptive English, Language trees, and various parties and acts. However, for someone with just a high school education and no background and linguistics, I highly doubt they would understand such terms clearly. Additionally, while the early examples were good for anyone, the rest of the book was essentially geared towards science writers alone or those that write lengthy research papers. Chapters one, two, and six were so good and helpful in any context that I would recommend them to any reader looking for information on how to better their writing. However, I wouldn’t recommend buying the entire book or reading the entire book if you aren’t someone that writes scientific articles or similar articles.