Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Sense of Style

  • The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
  • By: Steven Pinker
  • Narrated by: Arthur Morey
  • Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (46 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Sense of Style cover art

The Sense of Style

By: Steven Pinker
Narrated by: Arthur Morey
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Language Instinct cover art
On Writing Well: Audio Collection cover art
How the Mind Works cover art
Writing Tools (10th Anniversary Edition) cover art
Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction cover art
Think with Pinker cover art
The Elements of Style cover art
Writing Down the Bones cover art
Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t cover art
The Emotional Craft of Fiction cover art
The Beginning of Infinity cover art
Writing Creative Nonfiction cover art
Stein on Writing cover art
Algorithms to Live By cover art
The Art of Nonfiction cover art
Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing cover art

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin. 

Bad writing can't be blamed on the internet or on 'the kids today'. Good writing has always been hard: a performance requiring pretence, empathy and a drive for coherence. In The Sense of Style, cognitive scientist and linguist Steven Pinker uses the latest scientific insights to bring us a style and usage guide for the 21st century. What do skilful writers know about the link between syntax and ideas? How can we overcome the Curse of Knowledge, the difficulty in imagining what it's like not to know something we do? And can we distinguish the myths and superstitions from rules that enhance clarity and grace? As Pinker shows, everyone can improve their mastery of writing and their appreciation of the art (yes, 'their'). 

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2014 Steven Pinker (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A superbly and clearly written celebration of the best, least fuzzy kind of writing." (Winner, Plain English Campaign's International Award 2014)

What listeners say about The Sense of Style

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    27
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    26
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The only grammar book I stuck to all the way

Pinker has a narrative in his books and all the tips he gives in here, he follows himself which makes people who appreciate his writing appreciate the tips in here as well. I also really like the narrator and how the descriptive and example parts of the book are recorded so that the listener can still follow quite easily. I appreciate the beginning chapters way more than the ending but even then the book kept my interest.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Ignores male readers.

Addressed exclusively and cravenly to the female reader. Annoying. Don't buy. Find another style manual.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well worth a second listen/read

Steven Pinker introduces the classic writing style. He then breaks down, with helpful examples and amusing jokes, aspects of diction, syntax, semantics, and other elements of professional writing to get you to take grammar more seriously, and to avoid pitfalls to your reputation.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful