Way with Words: Writing Rhetoric and the Art of Persuasion

I am currently a Law student & this book is proving to be priceless to me. I am actively recommending it to all my friends. It has helped explain a lot of the stuffs I found confusing in Law School & broken it down to very basic terms.

It isn't just for Lawyers I must add. It is for everyone & anyone. Your words are your must valuable asset in the modern world & this book helps you improve on it immensely.

It is a must listen. & no I am not been paid to write this. I have only gotten to Chapter 8 & I am sooooo happy I bought it with my credit.

The speed of the intro rattles along, but the lecturer's enthusiasm keeps your attention and it's good fun.

Highly recommended, but the speed means that you'll need to follow up with a little reading online or hard copy to fix the ideas.

Drout has a strong US accent, but his love for the English language and Anglo Saxon makes his lectures delightful listening. Feed your brain!

Fascinating listening.

Because I'm usually more interested in the subject of history, I was at first hesitant about buying this book. When I saw this was by professor Drout, however, I decided to give it a try. I'd listened to his course on the anglo-saxons before, so I figured this might be good. I wasn't disappointed!

Professor Drout has an excellent way of teaching. He tells amusing stories, references geek culture, and his way of speaking clearly shows his enthausiasm for the subject. Teachers often try to be too funny and forget to actually teach you anything, or try to be too serious and fail to convey any enthausiasm. Drout manages to walk that fine line where the humour actually helps the learning process. Because you have to admit, it's easier to remember how a syllogism works (or rather, how it doesn't work) if you have a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail as an example.

As for the subject matter, it turned out to be very interesting indeed. Drout clearly sets out all the important parts of rhetoric, discussing each part in turn. He gives everything the attention it deserves, without losing sight of the big picture. And while I wish there'd been more time for the professor to explain some more logical fallacies and figures of speech, it is only an 8-hour course, and there's only so much you can cram into that amount of time. That said, if Drout were to make a course on either of those subjects, I'll definitely be buying it.

Now excuse me while I go listen to the whole thing again for the third time in a row.

There are any number of books out there which purport to transform the reader into into a master of persuasion. The joy of Prof Drout's book is his personal charm as a lecturer and the rigour of his approach which mixes medieval rhetorical theory, modern research into logic and communication alongside great examples from modern masters of the art like Martin Luther King. In addition to this his qualififcations in journalism offer additional insights into the various ways in which the written as well as the spoken word can be used to persuade. Invaluable to anyone who needs to communicate for a living but also a thoroughly pleasurable listen. Buy this book.

Great reader, has a really nice voice to listen to. This book is very helpful, I find myself listening to this time and time again

I'm sure we can all agree English lectures are not always entertaining or more sadly informative. But not so with Professor Drout. His accessible style and wit provides for a clear introduction and entertaining presentation.



Entertaining, occasionally amusing and learned, a great listen. Includes the first sensible instructions on the use of who whom, I've heard.

I liked that book. Author honestly could make it more densely and get rid of the chit chat but maybe the leisure way of narration and talking from notes and not from written manuscript by an amazing narrator makes you want to listen it as it is. Both on the go or when seriously sitting and studying. Once you start making notes and some research I guarantee you learn something from that book and it will give you a lot of impulses for further development either in linguistic history or philosophy. PDF comes along. You can find explanation of many terms used in that audio.

Great content, great delivery. This is what this audio book will give you and this is what it contains.

I've searched far and wide for a good book on rhetoric, and it is ironic that there are so many bad ones out there. This is a good one though. You will learn some useful tricks in the book, and the 'author' teaches you these tricks in an engaging way.