Freedman used a very distinctive approach rarely seen in any type of writing. All 167 pages consist basically of one single letter to the reader. Any person reading this book will take all of the anecdotes and advice very personally. By the end of the book, one might feel as though he/she knows Freedman personally.
This book can be used as a life manual or instructions for a journalist. It's packed with priceless and selfless advice that every aspiring journalist should read. But most importantly, people contemplating a future as a journalist, even is he or she is in school.
Having experienced a long and successful career, Freedman teaches you all the warning signs to watch out for. He also bestows insightful information about reporting and writing upon every journalist aspirant.
His "stages of writing" come in a cleverly organized order. Conceptualization, reporting, outlining, re-reporting, drafting and revision. These stages should be taught as journalism requirement to all journalism students. Although writing can come naturally to some people, it's always difficult in the beginning of one's career as a journalist. This leads to intimidation, and for some people, failure.
If students are taught a specific way to go about the writing process, they wouldn't have to learn the hard way and could go straight to becoming great writers.
His lessons on reporting are invaluable. The anecdotes that Freedman shares on his experience with different obstacles throughout the reporting fraction of his career, demonstrates to the readers that great reporters don't all start out great. He made mistakes that anyone can make. But he exposes an imperative lesson, which is that it's essential to gain knowledge from these mistakes and use that knowledge to improve your skills. Making mistakes and learning from them is the only way to become great.
As Freedman stated more than once in his book, "My virtue derives from my failures more than my successes."
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