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Ernest Hemingway on Writing Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.4 out of 5 stars 1,029 ratings

An assemblage of reflections on the nature of writing and the writer from one the greatest American writers of the 20th century.

Throughout Hemingway’s career as a writer, he maintained that it was bad luck to talk about writing - that it takes off “whatever butterflies have on their wings and the arrangement of hawk’s feathers if you show it or talk about it”.

Despite this belief, by the end of his life he had done just what he intended not to do. In his novels and stories, in letters to editors, friends, fellow artists, and critics, in interviews and in commissioned articles on the subject, Hemingway wrote often about writing. And he wrote as well and as incisively about the subject as any writer who ever lived....

This book contains Hemingway’s reflections on the nature of the writer and on elements of the writer’s life, including specific and helpful advice to writers on the craft of writing, work habits, and discipline. The Hemingway personality comes through in general wisdom, wit, humor, and insight, and in his insistence on the integrity of the writer and of the profession itself. (From the Preface by Larry W. Phillips)

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  1. Listening Length
    2 hours and 39 minutes
  2. Author
    Larry W. Phillips - editor
  3. Narrator
    John Bedford Lloyd
  4. Audible release date
    December 17, 2019
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster Audio
  7. ASIN
    B07TXM5P2R
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length 2 hours and 39 minutes
Author Larry W. Phillips - editor
Narrator John Bedford Lloyd
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date December 17, 2019
Publisher Simon & Schuster Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07TXM5P2R
Best Sellers Rank

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
1,029 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book to be a valuable collection of Hemingway's thoughts on writing, appreciating its humor and authenticity, with one customer noting it's compiled from notes. The book receives positive feedback for its pacing, with one review describing it as a carefully curated look at writing. While customers like the quotations from letters and publications, they note the book is short in length.

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HumorBook collectionPacingAuthenticityEase of useLengthQuotations
14 customers mention "Humor"14 positive0 negative

Customers find the book humorous and entertaining.

"...Worth reading for the humor displayed and an inside look at a writer’s life." Read more

"...His individuality as a writer, his strong masculinity, sense of humour and intensely romantic nature shine through...." Read more

"...Hemingway's comments on professional critics are highly entertaining and offer catharsis for the would-be or younger writer...." Read more

"I very much enjoy Hemingway, and his general tone and wit. However, this book leaves something to be desired. Insightful?..." Read more

10 customers mention "Book collection"10 positive0 negative

Customers describe this book collection as wonderful and a gem, with one customer noting it contains bits related to Hemingway.

"This book is nice to have in that, as far as I know, there is nothing else that Hemingway has written that is a book on writing...." Read more

"This was a delightful book! My favorite part was when Hemingway says he never wants any of his letters published!..." Read more

"...The words reveal the man---as a writer and human being with a rich philosophy of life." Read more

"...This book is a wonderful collection of all of Hemingway's advice on the craft of writing culled from his books, interviews and personal..." Read more

9 customers mention "Pacing"9 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the pacing of the book, describing it as a carefully curated look at writing, with one customer noting it is compiled from notes.

"...This carefully curated look at writing through Hemingway’s letters is a peek into his passion for the craft and all else can go to h*ll...." Read more

"Taken from letters and his writing on writing, this is a valuable inside look at Hemingway's thoughts on authorship." Read more

"...He never wanted to write about writing and this was compiled from notes, letters, etc he had with friends and other authors...." Read more

"Good work on Hemingway and Hemingway on Hemingway's writing, and that of other contemporary authors and artistic peers of his, by Larry Phillips...." Read more

5 customers mention "Authenticity"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the authenticity of the book, finding it full of emotion, with one customer noting it includes interviews and personal correspondences.

"...You get to feel their psyche. It is raw and full of emotion. I just got done reading 38 letters by John D Rockefeller - Those were also very good." Read more

"...Helpful tips buried in the bravado, humility, and pain of being an artist. Gold nuggets litter his brash opinions...." Read more

"...I loved his irascibility, his forthrightness and his honesty, along with his compassion and humanity...." Read more

"...He was passionate. Great book as expected." Read more

4 customers mention "Ease of use"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to use, with one customer noting it seems down to earth.

"...However, this book just inspires me. Plain and simple...." Read more

"...He also seems so down to earth - especially when he laments that there isn’t a good enough way to write about farting without using the word “fart.”..." Read more

"...It works very well and it is both the easiest and the best book on the subject I have read. It is practical, short and inspiring...." Read more

"Just a basic, slim volume of brief quotes. Nothing more." Read more

6 customers mention "Length"4 positive2 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's length, with some finding it short.

"...It is practical, short and inspiring. Love Hemingway or hate him, he took his writing seriously...." Read more

"This book is quite short and consists of brief snippets from Hemingway's stories, novels, and letters...." Read more

"This book is short, a collection of comments Hemingway made throughout his life concerning writing, but not compiled by him...." Read more

"This book is extremely insightful for its length...." Read more

6 customers mention "Quotations"0 positive6 negative

Customers have mixed feelings about the quotations in the book, with some appreciating the series of quotes from letters and publications, while others find them negative.

"...and although the advice is wise, it's really just an amalgam of unrelated quotations taken from other interviews...." Read more

"...the master on the art of writing is a pleasure, this book contains excerpts of his letters, interviews on writing and seems like a book of quotes...." Read more

"I wasn't aware that this was merely a loose collection of quotes on writing. This can be useful, but it actually makes for boring reading...." Read more

"Quotation selection could have been better." Read more

Don't hate on the greats, this book rules!
5 out of 5 stars
Don't hate on the greats, this book rules!
I bought this used, its a fascinating read; without giving away any details its mostly just letters from his newspaper corespondency, and private letters to other notable writers and members of his family. My only gripe about this book is that the other reviewers say that the advice is useless and nonsensical,I say wrong, wrong wrong! Its a must read for young writers and the advice is only impractical if you're prone to writers block and you don't have a social life or an imagination. if you can't write without your hand being held you're not a writer (and also he writes about writers block in the book ,) I have no idea what expectations the negative reviewers had
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Kae Wagner
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hemingway Revealed
    Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Excellent insight into the master from the master himself. This carefully curated look at writing through Hemingway’s letters is a peek into his passion for the craft and all else can go to h*ll. Worth reading for the humor displayed and an inside look at a writer’s life.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Shakti Chauhan
    4.0 out of 5 stars Personal, Unfiltered & Full of Emotion
    Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2025
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I love reading letters which these great people wrote. You get to feel their psyche. It is raw and full of emotion. I just got done reading 38 letters by John D Rockefeller - Those were also very good.
    Helpful
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  • Sam Wright
    5.0 out of 5 stars Champion Writer
    Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Advice on writing as only Hemingway could give. Fascinating insights into the man and his drive to write better than the great dead writers. Helpful tips buried in the bravado, humility, and pain of being an artist. Gold nuggets litter his brash opinions. His passion to write and to perfect his craft schools us would-be writers in what is takes to be a champion writer.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • William
    5.0 out of 5 stars Much like sitting next to a warm fire chatting with Papa
    Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2021
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I wouldn't call myself a rabid Hemingway fan but like most writers, I have a deep respect for him. As Larry Phillips, the author says so well, "Throughout Earnest Hemingway's career as a writer, he maintained it was bad luck to talk about writing--that it takes off ‘whatever butterflies have on their wings and the arrangement of hawk's feathers if you show it or talk about it.’" (p. xi)

    I think this quote sums it up. Hemingway for all his foibles was and is a writer who understood writing at a level most of us only aspire to. In "Ernest Hemingway on Writing" Brooks does an excellent job assembling small snippets of Hemingway's thoughts on writing to help writers today understand the breadth of what it means to write beyond ourselves. I particularly liked the section on "Other Writers" where Hemingway says “you should always write your best against dead writers” and then he offers numerous names of famous dead writers who fall we should write against.

    An inspiring read! Much of what Brooks has captured about Hemingway’s views on writing is indirect but never the less exceptional advice on the craft of writing from one of the best writers who ever lived.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • the fine reverend besotted
    3.0 out of 5 stars Little real instructive information, more interesting as a clue into Hemingway's personality.
    Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2020
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I found very little actionable advise in this book.

    The interest, if there is any, is more in uncovering Hemingway's viewpoint.

    What I learned was that Hemingway was a blowhard, often overly opinionated about other equally good (if not better) writers, and overly self-promoting on how "hard" it is to write one "good sentence". He tends to imply that writers have the most difficult job in the world, which they certainly do not.

    While Hemingway, at his best - i.e. most of his short stories, The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and The Old Man and the Sea (as long as it is read as an allegory) - is right up there with me; he also wrote a lot of blather (To Have and Have Not is a 'train wreck') in which he overly croons over uneducated "men of action" and lambasted "writers" who are not "sincere" like him. This opinionated self-importance readily comes through in his letters and such, which constitute what the present book alleges is "advice" on writing.

    I did find it interesting that Hemingway refutes that the "sharks" in The Old Man in the Sea are symbolic. He did not believe in symbolism. At least, that is what he implies and this would be consistent with how I view his worldview from reading his works. However, much of his writing is superficial (or simplistic) if not read symbolically. In fact, The Old Man and the Sea is tripe if not read symbolically since it defies reason to believe a fisherman who is starving to death from lack of catching fish is as happy-go-lucky and indifferent as the "old man" is portrayed in that story. It only works as an allegory, despite Hemingway's implication that nothing in that tale is meant to be symbolic.

    If you have interest in figuring out who Hemingway was as a man, then this book has some value. As "advice" on writing it has little, other than to tell you to write everyday and treat your writing as the most important thing, not only in your life, but in the world.

    Hemingway always writes marvelous sentences, even in letters to his publishers, so it is also worth reading just to hear his arrangement of words.
    21 people found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars small, quality volume
    Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This is like my "appointment book," I read it when I'm waiting for one thing or the other. It's a great collection of text and worth digesting in small but focussed portions.
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
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  • Donald Bullard
    4.0 out of 5 stars On complaints
    Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Freshman comp introduced me to the idea that artists may not be the best source of critical evaluation. Hemingway has some great insights into his craft. He also seems to take shots at a broad array of foes. I still think I will revisit this again. Also Chris for insight into what works in War and Peace.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Bill Foldberg
    5.0 out of 5 stars Don't hate on the greats, this book rules!
    Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2023
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I bought this used, its a fascinating read; without giving away any details its mostly just letters from his newspaper corespondency, and private letters to other notable writers and members of his family. My only gripe about this book is that the other reviewers say that the advice is useless and nonsensical,I say wrong, wrong wrong! Its a must read for young writers and the advice is only impractical if you're prone to writers block and you don't have a social life or an imagination. if you can't write without your hand being held you're not a writer (and also he writes about writers block in the book ,) I have no idea what expectations the negative reviewers had
    Customer image
    Bill Foldberg
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Don't hate on the greats, this book rules!

    Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2023
    I bought this used, its a fascinating read; without giving away any details its mostly just letters from his newspaper corespondency, and private letters to other notable writers and members of his family. My only gripe about this book is that the other reviewers say that the advice is useless and nonsensical,I say wrong, wrong wrong! Its a must read for young writers and the advice is only impractical if you're prone to writers block and you don't have a social life or an imagination. if you can't write without your hand being held you're not a writer (and also he writes about writers block in the book ,) I have no idea what expectations the negative reviewers had
    Images in this review
    Customer image
    16 people found this helpful
    Helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Jack Leron
    4.0 out of 5 stars Les conseils d'un maître
    Reviewed in France on December 18, 2011
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Ce livre est une compilation de ce qu'Ernest Hemingway a écrit à propos du métier d'écrire, dans ses romans, dans sa correspondance, dans ses articles en tant que journaliste. Ce sont des avis et des conseils judicieux et éclairants, de la part d'un maître contemporain, justement réputé pour son efficace sobriété et sa netteté d'écriture, rarement égalée. Une lecture indispensable pour mieux comprendre son exigence, les ressorts de son style et sa capacité à vous captiver.
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  • Cliente Amazon
    3.0 out of 5 stars Buono ma mi aspettavo meglio
    Reviewed in Italy on October 9, 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Dalla descrizione credevo si trattasse di un saggio sullo scrivere o un qualcosa di Hemingway, invece è solo una raccolta di aforismi. In ogni caso molto carino.
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  • Bill Keeth
    5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST FOR ANYONE WHO WRITES WITH SERIOUS INTENT
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 14, 2008
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Had you to vacate your home, bags packed, return scheduled in no fewer than seven days or so, where would you stash your valuables secure against your return? In a wall safe perhaps? In a fire safe loft locker? Alternatively, you might hit upon the idea of craftily disguising the stuff as worthless, utilising one of those fake soup cans that seem such a good idea at the time of purchase. Or you might go one step further, taking your lead from Scribner's treatment of Larry W Phillips's ERNEST HEMINGWAY ON WRITING. In this instance, what you would opt to do instead, as Scribner has done, is wrap the goods in what would appear to be 144 sheets of utility mark toilet paper, ensuring that every last bit of the great man's testament is securely enclosed within; whereupon (for no good reason other than unrelenting parsimony to the nth degree) you would then bung this multi-layered parcel in an even larger (and largely-faded) sepia photograph bearing a right profile image of the author who has been so abysmally treated.

    Voila, as I say, ERNEST HEMINGWAY ON WRITING, courtesy of The House of Scribner of the Avenue of the Americas. For 'tis a brave new world, indeed, where an Amazon seller who ventures to describe the condition of a book as Acceptable is party to a prouder boast than his poor competitor who must perforce admit his copy of the same book is New.

    But for all that, don't miss out on this book if a writer you would be. Put Scribner's petty parsimony right out of your mind and forget it, and seek ye the gold dust within. Oh, there is fool's gold aplenty, too - with Hemingway running off at the mouth on occasion with imaginings of the "rabbit's foot for good luck variety". But we can allow him this much in recognition of his undoubted reputation, and of every observation he makes that is most definitely good, none of which I consider it proper to repeat here.

    So buy the book and see: it is an absolute must for anyone who writes with serious intent. True, it's not a beginner's book. Not that a beginner might not read it. But simply through the sheer lack of words expended on his own account, a beginner might miss out on much of the wisdom inherent in Hemingway's words. Not to put too fine a point on it, a beginner might well mistake fool's gold for gold, and vice versa.
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  • Safi
    1.0 out of 5 stars Stains
    Reviewed in the United Arab Emirates on April 15, 2021
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    The book came in with big disgusting stains on the pages.
    Report
  • Anthony Edgar
    5.0 out of 5 stars A one on one conversation with the man himself
    Reviewed in Australia on November 1, 2020
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    We have all read his words, but what of his art, his profession, from his perspective. Reading 'Ernest Hemingway On Writing' was, in part, like a one on one conversation with the man himself. His most private thoughts, his explanations, considerations, loves and hates, his favourite writers, his darkness and his brilliance. It showed him as just another man, with a great passion and hard-fought gift. I very much enjoyed Ernest Hemingway On Writing.
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