# The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker

3 Hacker News commenters recommended The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for explaining the principles behind clear sentence construction, including why some long sentences work. One critic found its Classical Style section confusing and disorganized.

## Why people recommend it

- Explains underlying principles of good writing (2 comments): "explained the actual principle behind making an understandable run-on" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46494158)) "it does a good job anchoring its suggestion in first principals" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49756465))
- Puts long-sentence impressions into words (1 comments): "I think this very neatly puts into words some impressions that I've had about these long sentences." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46494320))

## What people warn about

- Classical Style section confusing and disorganized (1 comments): "I found his description of Classical Style very confusing and disorganized." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49767372))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Elements of Style by Strunk and White](https://hackerapproved.com/p/elements-of-style.md): 12 recommend
- [On Writing by Stephen King](https://hackerapproved.com/p/on-writing.md): 9 recommend
- [On Writing Well by William Zinsser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/on-writing-well.md): 4 recommend
- [Writing for Developers by Scynthia Dunlop](https://hackerapproved.com/p/writing-for-developers.md): 2 recommend
- [The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chicago-manual-of-style.md): 2 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0241957710?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780241957714) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker", https://hackerapproved.com/p/sense-of-style/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).