The Elements of Style.
By William Strunk Jr. and E.B.
White.
This little book is a classic. Many of the best writers reread
it every year. Pay special attention to Rule 17: "Vigorous writing is
concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no
unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no
unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the
writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his
subjects only in outline, but that every word tell." At 105 pages, this
book practices what it preaches.