Mixing memoir, scholarship, and social commentary, The Trouble With Words uses the ancient technique of commonplacing to produce a series of essays on why language and learning still matter in a world awash in lies, a world increasingly described, blush-free, as "post-truth." It seeks to counteract the idea that words no longer matter and, while entertaining and engaging readers, to encourage them to take up the practice of keeping a commonplace book-and maybe even to write their own. The book's final chapter offers tips on how best to keep a commonplace book.
Maxine Ruvinsky is a retired journalist and professor of journalism. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from McGill University in Montreal, and worked for decades in print journalism before moving west to teach journalism at a small BC university's School of Journalism. She is the author of several books published by Oxford University Press: Practical Grammar, Practical Writing, and Investigative Reporting in Canada. In 2015, she came home to Montreal, where she continues to write, mostly for pleasure.