Effective Ways to Improve Vocabulary: Tip #3
Read good writing. I admit that "good writing" is a contentious term, but in general, I consider writing to be�"good" if it communicates complex ideas in ways that are clear and concise yet thorough and detailed. In other words, there�should be�a tension between sometimes keeping it simple and sometimes using so-called "big words" words because they communicate something that common words just can't. To put it another way, look for writing that has an intellectual, exploratory bent.
So, what should you read regularly? I'm not qualified to prescribe exact sources for all, but I'll reveal my biases and recommend some periodicals and blogs I like:
The New York Times (especially�on Sundays)
The New Yorker
The Utne Reader
Salon (
www.salon.com)
Malcolm Gladwell's Blog (
www.gladwell.typepad.com)
There's a more liberal orientation to the above, but if you prefer socially conservative reading, try the National Review or anything by Ann Coulter. Also, the above are all periodicals or blogs. Regular books are equally effective, and it would be imprudent to ignore them. Fiction (the sort good enough to be classified as literature) and nonfiction are both bound to build your vocabulary.
