[T]his is a great book in a lot of ways. It’s easy for us to tell when we like some piece of writing and when we don’t, but it’s not always easy for us to tell why. Clark helps us look at a piece of writing and dissect it for examination. He calls it “X-ray reading.” Throughout the book he gives examples from mostly well-known literary works. There were a few things I could have done without and it would’ve been a five star book for me.