Chris Lehman, the principal of Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy and author of the Practical Theory blog, recommends these books that he says "inspire me every day:"

Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century by David Warlick

Teaching to Transgress by Bell Hooks

Educating Moral People: A Caring Alternative to Character Education by Nell Noddings

Pam Nelson, veteran newspaper copy editor and author of the Triangle Grammar Guide blog suggests these books the next time you're tearing your hair out over "who" verses "whom."

Garner's Modern American Usage by Bryan A. Garner

Common Errors in English Usage by Paul Brians, and its related website

Working with Words by Brian S. Brooks

Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker

Erin McKean, dictionary editor and author of Weird and Wonderful Words, recommends these books:

Word Origins... and How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone by Anatoly Liberman

The Warden of English: The Life of H.W. Fowler by Jenny McMorris

Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends by David Wilton

Lapsing Into a Comma: A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print--and How to Avoid Them by Bill Walsh

Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon by Michael Adams ("Just in case any of you thought I was joking, the essay on ephemeral language is worth reading even if you've never seen an episode of Buffy," says Erin)

Roy Peter Clark, the journalist, writing coach and scholar we interviewed for our latest "Word Count" section, recommends these books about writing.

These books track the linguistic games politicians, companies, the media -- and yes, you and I -- play to hide what we really mean. Part dictionaries, part social commentaries, altogether intriguing:

The Evasion-English Dictionary by Maggie Balistreri

How Not To Say What You Mean by R. W. Holder

Slam Dunks and No-Brainers by Leslie Savan

I came across this list of terrific writing books as a sidebar to a Detroit Free Press article on storytelling. To read the article, please click here. [Editor]