A quick and relatively enjoyable read. Mostly common-sense ideas, but amusingly presented, and we can all use a few reminders of common sense when it comes to e-mail. It's a nice touch that the authors sometimes use their own e-mails to demonstrate how things can go wrong; keeps the tone from being too preachy or prescriptive. ( )

A primer on basic e-mail functions and etiquette. It would be useful for businesses and organizations wanting to improve their practices, particularly in relation to appropriate and collegial behavior as well as introductory security and privacy. ( )

I read this book about a year ago (2009) and found it moderately useful. It lays out common sense guidelines for how to conduct oneself over email. I think it's only moderately useful, though, because the people that really need to take its lessons to heart may not change their email etiquette after reading it. I've actually seen this happen -- one colleague at work gave this book to another colleague that has problematic email etiquette; I know that he read the book, but he seems to be unchanged. That's only anecdotal evidence, and it's probably too much to ask of a book on email to change someone's personality. Email is just the medium, of course.

This might be the kind of book that is most useful for someone starting out in the business world. ( )

One of those advice books where I didn't really learn anything new, but sometimes those are the best kind. They act, instead, as reassurance. Very succinct and practical, with plenty of vivid examples. ( )

Subtitled as “The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home”, Send is an authoritative, slim volume designed to address some of the tricky issues that make email a powerful but potentially dangerous tool. David Shipley, Op-Ed Page Editor of the New York Times, and Will Schwalbe, Editor-in-Chief of Hyperion Books, have teamed up to write a guide for email—not just how to write an email, but when and why. Chapters include “How to Write (the Perfect) Email”, “The Six Essential Types of Email”, and even “The Email That Can Land You in Jail”. The authors provide examples, often with the names changed to protect the innocent (and guilty); these range from “I can’t believe they did that” to “Oops, I’ve done that.”

The basic message of the book is “Think before you send”. Email should be simple, it should be effective, it should be necessary, and it should get something done. This book organizes some of the things you already know, and raises other issues that you may or may not have instinctively done up to now. Like so many other things, a bit of thinking and discipline can transform your email from a dull knife into a sharp and effective blade for getting things done; I’d recommend Send as a whetstone for your email habits. ( )