Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010

What would people recommend as particularly well-written examples of
the 'teach yourself' type of guide?

I'm particularly interested in shortish books (not 'bibles') that
aren't written according to the excruciating self-help formula with
cutesy anecdotes every chapter and "Twelve Roads to Success" and
"Remember the Code: H-E-L-P", and such crap.

I.e. books which stimulate an interested reader to learn how to do
something confidently and to become even more interested, rather than
just name-drop the author before they move on to the next title on the
bestseller list.

They don't have to be recent; I'd be interested to hear about
anything
published in the last 50 years that people think is worth
recommending.

John