• Any good dictionary new enough to include up-to-date technological vocabulary (For instance, you need to know which is correct: Web site, website, web-site. And yes, it matters.)

• The Elements of Style , 4th Ed., by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White. New York: Longman, 2000. This is a classic, updated periodically. (And yes, that is the same E.B. White who wrote Charlotte’s Web. He knew a thing or two.) [LINK]
  
  
• Rules for Writers, 5th ed., by Diana Hacker. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 2004. This is Carol’s favorite handbook. So helpful. So easy to understand and navigate. [LINK]

• The Gregg Reference Manual, 10th ed., by William A. Sabin. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2004. Comprehensive handbook. It includes business writing techniques and formats. [LINK]
  
  
• Revising Prose, 5th ed., by Richard A. Lanham. New York: Longman, 2006. A great companion to Strunk and White. Lanham teaches the Paramedic Method for transforming muddy, flabby sentences into clear, readable ones. [LINK]

• Anything by Richard Lederer: Fractured English, etc. Lederer fills books with hilarious real-life examples of faulty writing. Laugh and learn at the same time. [LINK]
  
  
• Fine Print: Reflections on the Writing Art, by James Kilpatrick. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1994. Kilpatrick gives writing advice from his lifetime of experience in journalism.

• The Thirty-Second Commute, by Beverley Williams. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Don’t be afraid to home-office. It works. [LINK]
  
  
• Spare Room Tycoon, by James Chan. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2000. “Succeeding Independently: The 70 Lessons of Sane Self-Employment.” A balanced, principled treatment of self-employment, excellently written by one who’s done it. [LINK]

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