A Writer's Companion

Library Journal

For this companion, Rubin-editor, distinguished scholar, and, most recently, novelist (The Heat of the Sun, LJ 9/1/95)-excluded information found easily in the World Almanac and Roget's but otherwise included miscellaneous information that he and some 55 other writers thought would be helpful and browsable. Their assemblage of information, meant to be "of particular use to writers and editors," has 19 sections (e.g., "Sports," "The Animal Kingdom") divided into 66 subsections (e.g., "Pennant Contenders," "The Pro Quarterbacks"). Like many companions, the book includes unique lists and is fun to browse. However, its content is not as interesting or as useful as that of such books as The People's Almanac or the Book of Lists. This offering would be more useful in the home or office than the library.-Peter Dollard, Alma Coll. Lib., Mich.

From The Critics

An assessment of "A Writer's Companion" will most likely depend upon the setting in which it is used. Its two Library of Congress subject headings sum up the options. In a library, especially one with a reasonably good reference collection, the subject heading "Literary curiosa--Handbooks, manuals, etc." characterizes it well. If, on the other hand, one is an author or editor working outside a library, then the other heading fits: "Handbooks, vade-mecums, etc." Rubin explains that this book is "not designed to replace specialized reference sources" but "gather[s] material . . . in sufficient detail, on a variety of topics--topics about which, from my own experience and that of others, it seemed to me that writers and editors would find useful to have information available within the covers of a single volume. In the absence of an index, the primary point of access to the book is the table of contents, an outline of its 19 topical chapters. Broad topical areas covered include transportation, architecture, music, literature and language, religion and folklore, psychoanalysis, philosophy, gastronomy, and sports. The most thoroughly developed chapters are those that apply to the arts, history, and transportation/travel. Each section is a list, generally briefly annotated, of something--for example, downtown hotels in American cities, historical battles, great architectural works, notable sculptors, famous operas, current slang, popular radio shows, ancient deities, professional quarterbacks, or "some reference books that writers use." This last chapter is an ironic coda; like the references at the conclusion of each subsection, it cites numerous specialized sources that in almost every case outperform the lists in "A Writer's Companion". Yet writers should be wary of its recommendations of superseded editions of Bartlett's "Familiar Quotations", the "Columbia Encyclopedia", and the "Times Atlas of the World" One cannot deny that a certain delight can be had by browsing through a list of occupations famous writers have filled, a list of famous cats, or statements of immutable laws in science and other fields. This book, much like the "The People's Almanac Presents the Book of Lists" (Little, Brown, 1993), can be great fun to browse. However, neither is a reference work of choice for libraries, especially not "A Writer's Companion", most of whose sections have authoritative, more comprehensive, more informative book-length counterparts in reference collections.

Booknews

Not particularly about writing, but a compilation of a vast array of factual data to answer the practical reference needs of writers and others--the information that keeps writers in the library for hours. Sixty-six topics are covered under 19 categories. The range of information provided is suggested by the range of writers Rubin consulted for suggestions about what might be included--art historians, novelists, newspaper columnists, psychiatrists, literary critics, political scientists, sports writers, political and military historians, philologists, classical scholars, theologians, poets, editors and publishers, and writers on music. Not only useful but vastly entertaining--as suitable for browsing as for research. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)