“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers,” Dorothy Parker once wrote, “the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of ‘The Elements of Style.’ The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.” Once in a while, I open my copy of The Elements of Style, and I turn straight to the back, to the ‘list of reminders’. It’s there that I am grounded by Strunk and White’s practical wisdoms. “When using metaphor, do not mix it up. That is, don’t start by calling something a swordfish and end by calling it an hourglass.” “When you say something, make sure you have said it. The chances of your having said it are only fair.” And my favourite, “avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy and the cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy.” I have the version illustrated by the wonderfully talented Maira Kalman. Aspiring writers, firefighters or veterinarians, everyone deserves the favour that is the gift of this book.