Rajesh Babu sent me an e-mail in response to my question about good books on technical writing. He also recommended Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, so now I know this is the one I should get. Rajesh further wrote that he bought the book after having read Richard Gabriel’s Writing Broadside (PDF), an essay suggesting that computer scientists should improve their writing. I quote:

The traditional and expected suggestion is to read Strunk and White’s Elements of Style (1979). I never found this book to be useful except to inspire me to think about writing. […] Sure, read [it] and every book on writing you can get your hands on, but there really is only one I’ve seen that tries to teach what it means to omit needless words [a guideline from Elements of Style], to write clearly and simple. That book is Style: Toward Clarity and Grace by Joseph M. Williams (1990). Williams seems to know what makes good writing clear and graceful and he can explain it. […] If you decide to read one book on writing, this is the one.

The essay is very good, as is the case with everything I’ve read by Richard Gabriel. Check out his list of essays.