If you're looking for a traditional manual of rules, this much-acclaimed, groundbreaking book by a cofounder of Harvard University's Writing Center may not be the one for you. Grammar is about much more than rules: it's about choices, too-since a thought can always be expressed correctly in multiple ways. In author Lawrence Weinstein reveals how our grammatical choices either stifle or boost our... Weinstein shows that certain tweaks to a person's grammar can bring consequential changes in his or her fulfillment and well-being. In this wonderfully readable book, he describes some forty transformative moves that can be made with English punctuation and syntax. In the book, you'll learn, for instance, why a greater use of active voice constructions builds assertive energy in us. You'll discover how-paradoxically-cutting back on the "intensifiers" (exclamation marks and words like ) heightens our awareness of the world. In a chapter titled "Bonding," even sex comes in for some grammatical attention. Even fear of death receives its own, almost lyrical chapter near book's end. The farther one gets into this remarkable book, the clearer it becomes that Weinstein's wish-for both himself and us-is actualization of "the whole person," through language. No reader should be intimidated by Weinstein's university credentials. As important a book as his is, it's conversational throughout-and it's packed with numerous compelling, clear examples. You will never think of commas or possessive pronouns in the same way again. Your regard for the conjunction "but" is likely to soar. Praise for has been coming in from thought leaders of all kinds, ranging from well-known authors on language, such as Anne Fadiman, Lynne Truss, and Richard Lederer, to influential spiritual thinkers, like Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. Cornel West calls it "brilliant and original." Pioneer in mind-body studies Joan Borysenko writes, "If you read just one book this year, let this be the one." [PLEASE NOTE: is not a book intended for the person new to the English language. It assumes familiarity with many of the basics of English.]