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Good with Words: Writing and Editing
If your success at work or in school depends on your ability to communicate persuasively in writing, you’ll want to get Good with Words. Based on a course that law students at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago have called "outstanding," "A-M-A-Z-I-N-G," and "the best course I have ever taken," the book brings together a collection of concepts, exercises, and examples that have also helped improve the advocacy skills of people pursuing careers in many other fields—from marketing, to management, to medicine.
“There is nobody better than Patrick Barry when it comes to breaking down how to write and edit. His techniques don’t just make you sound better. They make you think better. I’m jealous of the people who get to take his classes.”
—Professor Lisa Bernstein, University of Chicago Law School and Oxford University Center for Corporate Regulation
“Whenever I use Patrick Barry’s materials in my class, the student reaction is the same: ‘We want more of them.’”
—Professor Dave Babbe, UCLA School of Law
“Working one-on-one with Patrick Barry should be mandatory for all lawyers, regardless of seniority. This book is the next best thing.”
—Purvi Patel, Partner at Morrison Foerster LLP
“I am proud to say that, when it comes to writing, I speak Patrick Barry. What I mean is that I use, pretty much every day, the writing vocabulary and techniques he offers in this great book. So read it. Share it. And then, if you can, teach it. There are a lot of good causes in the world that could use a new generation of great advocates.”
—Professor Bridgette Carr, Assistant Dean of Strategic Initiatives and Director of the Human Trafficking Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School
“Patrick Barry is my secret weapon. I use his techniques every time I write, and I also teach them to all my students.”
—Professor Shai Dothan, Copenhagen Faculty of Law
“I know the materials in this book were originally created for lawyers and law students. But I actually find them really helpful for doctors as well, given that a lot of what I do every day depends on effective communication. There is a tremendous upside to becoming ‘Good with Words.”
—Dr. Ramzi Abboud, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
“There is nobody better than Patrick Barry when it comes to breaking down how to write and edit. His techniques don’t just make you sound better. They make you think better. I’m jealous of the people who get to take his classes.”
—Professor Lisa Bernstein, University of Chicago Law School and Oxford University Center for Corporate Regulation
“Whenever I use Patrick Barry’s materials in my class, the student reaction is the same: ‘We want more of them.’”
—Professor Dave Babbe, UCLA School of Law
“Working one-on-one with Patrick Barry should be mandatory for all lawyers, regardless of seniority. This book is the next best thing.”
—Purvi Patel, Partner at Morrison Foerster LLP
“I am proud to say that, when it comes to writing, I speak Patrick Barry. What I mean is that I use, pretty much every day, the writing vocabulary and techniques he offers in this great book. So read it. Share it. And then, if you can, teach it. There are a lot of good causes in the world that could use a new generation of great advocates.”
—Professor Bridgette Carr, Assistant Dean of Strategic Initiatives and Director of the Human Trafficking Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School
“Patrick Barry is my secret weapon. I use his techniques every time I write, and I also teach them to all my students.”
—Professor Shai Dothan, Copenhagen Faculty of Law
“I know the materials in this book were originally created for lawyers and law students. But I actually find them really helpful for doctors as well, given that a lot of what I do every day depends on effective communication. There is a tremendous upside to becoming ‘Good with Words.”
—Dr. Ramzi Abboud, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
266 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 31, 2019
95 people are currently reading
206 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 2, 2023
This is a book about writing. How to write, what to write, when to write it. What not to write. It is structured into chapters of input, followed by examples, simple practice and free practice, and it's easy to follow, easy to use, and easy to get to the end of. It's not daunting, like some other books about writing, and while it is tied into a number of writing courses on Coursera and face-to-face at the University of Michigan, it also holds up well on its own.
And it's free!
And it's free!
July 27, 2020
The cover is probably the best part. Chapter one is a diarrhea of words and a vomit of name dropping. It's not Daniel Kahneman, it's "Nobel Prize–winning psychologist". It's not Loftus, it's
> the psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, whose expertise has been used in trials as different and influential as those of O. J. Simpson, Timothy McVeigh, and mass murderer Ted Bundy.
So Tim McVeigh was not a mass murderer?!? Anyway, even Nelson Mandela has something to do with Barry's crap. The text is clear and definite:
> A student attorney at the University of Michigan Law School was representing a Colombian mother in a custody dispute.
In the end this volume proves to be a series of 10 short blog posts fluffed up with smarty quotes and mottos, even some public domain picture here and there.
Also the text is obscure with pointless references. Like his teachers, Barry is too intellectually narrow to adapt his text to the audience and is more than happy to copy and paste from the works of somebody else. Hence a long dead poet who wrote a word in triplicate as a title poem becomes:
> In 1835, for example, Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote a poem to try to capture the pain and loneliness he felt after the death of his good friend Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and university student at Cambridge who died of an unexpected cerebral hemorrhage when only 22 years old.
And that is argument enough for Logic is out of Barry's intellectual grasp.
> the psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, whose expertise has been used in trials as different and influential as those of O. J. Simpson, Timothy McVeigh, and mass murderer Ted Bundy.
So Tim McVeigh was not a mass murderer?!? Anyway, even Nelson Mandela has something to do with Barry's crap. The text is clear and definite:
> A student attorney at the University of Michigan Law School was representing a Colombian mother in a custody dispute.
In the end this volume proves to be a series of 10 short blog posts fluffed up with smarty quotes and mottos, even some public domain picture here and there.
Also the text is obscure with pointless references. Like his teachers, Barry is too intellectually narrow to adapt his text to the audience and is more than happy to copy and paste from the works of somebody else. Hence a long dead poet who wrote a word in triplicate as a title poem becomes:
> In 1835, for example, Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote a poem to try to capture the pain and loneliness he felt after the death of his good friend Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and university student at Cambridge who died of an unexpected cerebral hemorrhage when only 22 years old.
And that is argument enough for Logic is out of Barry's intellectual grasp.
January 23, 2021
Teaching writing is a challenge. I appreciate Barry's approach. He focused on how certain structures and sounds leave impressions on the reader. It was almost like a writing psychology lens. Most of the examples are legal in nature since the material came out of his law school teaching. I enjoyed it and am planning to use it with my legal writing students.
October 6, 2021
Useful principles and suggestions for writing better sentences
The book is full of good ideas, lots of inspiring quotes and exercises for you to put into place and practice what you have just learnt.
The book is full of good ideas, lots of inspiring quotes and exercises for you to put into place and practice what you have just learnt.
December 15, 2022
I read this for a course on Coursera - did not read the entire book, just the snippets requested. This is a good, current book on writing. Offers a lot of resources, examples and practices for students (especially of law) who want to get better at their writing.
June 5, 2025
This was pretty solid. I've read two of these sort of books in a row (troubling!) but I found this one a useful starting point for reading more about legal writing, even as much of what it says is (I think) pretty obvious. Overall, a nice book.
June 25, 2019
Professor Barry is one of Michigan Law's gems, and it's no shock that his book on how to be a better legal writer -- or actually, any kind of writer -- is equally great.
October 29, 2020
I am taking the online course with Coursera ("Writing and Editing: Word Choice and Word Order) with the author of this book. This book is such a great reference!
September 26, 2021
The coursera course is way better than the book in every way imaginable.
May 14, 2022
Read this for my online course on writing and editing. Very insightful and easy to understand.
February 2, 2023
Very helpful for those who are paid to read and write! (which is most of the people I know)
June 17, 2023
To anyone else taking Professor Barry's course on Coursera, the time invested in it is well worth the trouble.
November 20, 2023
I love this book. I have learned so much.
August 31, 2025
There are some useful tips on writing but I guess most aren’t really practical advice more on the theory behind writing better.
December 5, 2020
Excellent book.
Written for the students or participants of his course "Good with WOrds". I took the specialization on Coursera of 4 courses. I am revising each section/course, particularly with additional practice exercises.
but the book is very nice, it talks about general principles on writing and then demonstrated what that principle means in day-to-day writing. Or how can you use those principles and improve your writing.
My primary interest was academic writing, but the book and course proved to b usedful for any kind or genre of writing. Thanks..
Written for the students or participants of his course "Good with WOrds". I took the specialization on Coursera of 4 courses. I am revising each section/course, particularly with additional practice exercises.
but the book is very nice, it talks about general principles on writing and then demonstrated what that principle means in day-to-day writing. Or how can you use those principles and improve your writing.
My primary interest was academic writing, but the book and course proved to b usedful for any kind or genre of writing. Thanks..
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews