Writing in a Visual Age

This textbook sucks! I'm writing a review right now, and I keep trying to be objective about what I say, but the more time I spend with this book, the worse I think it is.

I think the concept behind the book is great. Students should use more visuals when they write. I think it would be great for students to use meaningful pictures to highlight their texts. I also think it would be great if more teachers would appreciate that. Really, the only thing a teacher would have to do would be to change page length requirements to word requirements-- and tell students to include pictures/charts and so on.

I really don't have an issue with the idea of the book; it's the execution. It has all these charts-- they are so busy that you don't know which things are important and it took me too long to figure out why the pages were colored the way they are. Also, the questions it asks are really leading. It doesn't ask students to think freely about something-- it guides them-- this isn't analysis-- it's barely a step above reading comprehension. Plus it's section divisions are useless. The first half of the book is just writing styles. All of the useful information about the visual is in the second half of the book, but the authors spent more time gathering information for the first half.

It's probably unprofessional to spout off like this about how annoying this book is. I'm sure there will be loads of instructors who use it and love it and think it is so innovative, but I find it really difficult to follow, and I think the creative aspect of it is extremely limited.