The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition Seventeenth Edition

Like many starving writers, I simply don't have the cash to drop on a brand new copy of the 18th edition, so I opted for the 17th one in "used - very good" condition, and it actually looks like brand new! Only the jacket has VERY minimal wear on the edges, but other than that and the 3 red marker lines on the bottom of the bookblock, it's pristine and beautiful! I plan on browsing through this gigantic reference book while sipping on a glass of wine this Saturday night.

I was raised on printed books and, though readily acknowledging certain obvious advantages of online editions, I tend to prefer the accessibility of text which doesn't require electricity to be seen and read. In addition, I'm used to memorizing the physical placement of any subject matter within a given book, so I can get right to it without referring to the table of contents. Also, when I look up a particular topic, I often stray to the neighboring pages and end up learning more than I bargained for. It isn't quite so with the online format: you find your point of interest quicker, but it pops up out of context, and you can only see suggestions and links to related—and unrelated—topics. Printed books or online editions: either pick can be more viable under certain conditions, even though I think that books offer a sedate and deliberate experience more conducive to internalizing fresh knowledge. As to the book itself, it's a great help and a definitive guide to good writing, editing, proofreading, editing, publishing and what not. I also refer to A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language by R. Quirk et al.; however, it tends to be rather metalinguistically oriented, while the Chicago Manual of Style sits more on the side of practical honing of text so that when it reaches the reader it is coherent, consistently and neatly structured, and it follows all formal and legal requirements of a particular type of publication. Amazon's processing of the order was hassle-free, the delivery—faster than I expected!

This is a beautiful tome. It's huge, much larger than I expected. The quality is superb, the pages crisp, and the typeface easy to read. As a budding copyeditor and writer, I've needed to get this for some time. I'm not disappointed. This book covers everything I need to learn to ensure I'm writing clean stories. It will also help me a ton with becoming an effective copyeditor. If you're on a similar path, you need to pick this up right away!

If you are into American English, no matter what style you may be using in your work, this tome should have a place on your bookself. The amount of useful information in it is staggering. After looking through the table of contents of version 17 of CMOS online I can easily see why the book gets such great ratings. What doesn't it cover? Is there a book that comes remotely close to being The Chicago Manual of Style's equal. I think not. It's the bible. Outside of specific things other styles employ (MLA, APA, AP Style, CSE Manual, Turabian. IEEE Editorial Style Manual .....) this book covers just about everything. The amount of stuff everyone can use is mindboggling, simply exhaustive and thorough to the nth degree. At $55 the book isn't cheap, but what great reference book is? I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BUYING IT.

This edition is enormous compared to my 8th edition copy.

This is pretty much THE resource for fiction editors and writers. I remember over the years--I have various editions-- finding some of the rules really stupid (still do). Even so, this is a very good resource to clarify some rules of usage that we can forget or we never learned in school.I used this back when I edited. I keep it nearby when I go blank on some things about capitalization or approved style or usage, etc. It's a thick book and not as user-friendly as I would wish. It would be lovely if folks who bought a copy of this pricey tome also got access to more examples at the CMOS site and ongoing notifications of revisions of rules before the next edition released. In the digital age, this is not that hard to do.As far as changes: One of the changes is that the previous recommendation to always spell out "United States" no longer applies. Using "US" is now appropriate as well. Also, they do not prefer the use of "ibid" anymore for multiple citations; rather, they recommend the use of short citations. Some changes to hyphenation-- head hunting becomes head-hunting; e-mail is now email--and some differences in certain uses of commas are also included in the new edition. Also, Internet loses its capital to become "internet." And find how to do a citation for quotes from Twitter. :)Bottom line: pricey, but useful for knowing what is the "preferred" use/style of punctuation, syntax, etc.

This is my go-to reference book while I'm working on editing my novels. So much faster than looking up style questions online, and well organized to make it easy to find what I need. A worthwhile investment!

The gold standard for writers and editors, regularly updated to reflect changing practices.