Seeking information on book

Could someone please post some information (table of contents perhaps) on the book by Louis Leslie, “Functional Method Dictation” (1936)?   How does this book differ from Leslie and Zoubek’s 2 vol. Method manual?  Did Leslie and/or Zoubek produce other Functional Method books?Thanks!

(by A for
everyone)

 


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  1. Very helpful info. Thanks!

    Another book question: I recently picked up Whitmore and Wanous, Shorthand Transcription Studies (1944), and am preparing a key to exercises for my own practicing purposes. What I find particularly useful about this book is that passages are written up on ruled pages, which isn't the case for any other Anniv. manual or speed studies book I've seen. Since I do all of my own shorthand writing on ruled pages, and am very interested in finding other Anniv. shorthand books with passages written on ruled pages (for help in working on proper proportions, etc.). Do you know of any others?

  2. The Functional Method Dictation book is the continuation to the two-volume Functional Method manual from the Anniversary series, intended to be used in the second year of shorthand study. It is a standalone book, but you can consider it as Vol. 3 of the Functional method Anniversary series. It is a dictation book all written in shorthand, containing numerous passages and letters, and it reinforces the theory from the manual.

    Functional Method manuals (theory books) were produced for Simplified, DJS, and S90 series; however, in subsequent series (Simplified and later), there is no Functional Method dictation book. Dictation and transcription were taught from the same books, whether you learned the theory using a regular or a functional method manual.

  3. Thanks Chuck. I'll definitely pick up a copy of the Bowman book if any are available. Too bad more ruled-page Anniv. era books weren't produced. On the other hand, I suppose pretty much all the visual information I need for my purposes can be found in Whitmore and Wanous.

  4. Too true.

    Pursuing the random book thread a little more: in recent days I've noticed listings on ebay for manuals and/or workbooks that were produced, alternatively, for the Army or Navy during WWII. Are these essentially the equivalent of the Anniv. manual? Or do they cover useful additional material? In general, I'm wondering whether books of this sort are important additions to an Anniv. library. (My objective in assembling a library, I should say, is to gather the most useful materials for learning purposes; less so to collect for collecting's sake.)

    Also, I see that there's an "advanced" shorthand manual that the Army put out. What does "advanced" refer to in this case? And are there other Anniv. publications that are considered advanced — or are expressly designated as such?

    In connection with the above, tomorrow I'm going to post a list of my small but growing shorthand library. I'd love to get some feedback on what I don't have that I should have, given my purposes for building a collection. I'd be much obliged for your thoughts.

  5. I don't know of any others with ruled pages, other than the "Gregg Shorthand for the Electronic Office" books written for Series 90, and the Centennial series books.

    Since you mentioned Shorthand Transcription Studies, you may also be interested in the Shorthand Dictation Studies book by Wallace Bowman, also published by South Western Publishing. It is a very good book. It serves as a good theory review/dictation book. It has passages both in shorthand and in print type. Though some of the selections are dated, the book is good for vocabulary building, as new words are introduced slowly during the book. The second edition is the one I recommend (1947).

  6. Yes, indeed. The shorthand in the Whitmore and Wanous books is beautiful; the book shows you how to write the strokes on the lines and gives you an idea on proportion.

  7. My library to date (are there other Anniv./pre-Anniv. books I should be looking for?):

    Beers and Scott (Fundamental Drills in Gregg Shorthand" (1932)
    Bowman, "Manual to Accompany Shorthand Dictation Studies" (1947) [ordered]
    Bowman, "Shorthand Dictation Studies" (1947) [ordered]
    Forkner, Osborne, and Obrien "Correlated Dictation and Transcription" (1940)
    Gardner, "Constructive Dictation: "Plan Your Letter" (1919)
    Gregg, "Gregg Reporting Shortcuts" (1922)
    Gregg, "Gregg Speed Building: One-Year Course" (1940)
    Gregg, "Gregg Speed Studies" (1917)
    Gregg, "Gregg Speed Studies: Third Edition" (1941)
    Gregg, "Gregg Speed Studies: Anniversary Edition" (1929)
    Gregg, "Gregg Shorthand: New and Revised Edition [pre-Anniversary]" (1916)
    Gregg, "Gregg Shorthand: Anniversary Edition" (1948)
    Gregg, "Gregg Shorthand Dictionary" (1930)
    Gregg, "Gregg Phrase Book" (1930)
    Hunter, "Graded Readings in Gregg Shorthand" (2930)
    Leslie, "Manual for the Functional Method", parts 1+2 (1942)
    Leslie and Zoubek, "Speed Drills in Gregg Shorthand" (1938)
    Renshaw and Leslie, "Gregg Dictation and Transcription" (1937)
    Swem and Gregg, "Gregg Shorthand Reporting Course" (1936)
    Whitmore and Wanous, "Shorthand Transcription Studies" (1944)

  8. I can see why you consider the Gregg Shorthand Reporting Course by Swem and Gregg to be the "holy grail." Besides being a first-rate source of information, it is hands-down the most beautiful GS book in print (at least that I've ever seen).

  9. Great advice on the book sequencing. Since reading/working through the manual, I've pretty much been working through the various Speed Building and Speed Drills books indiscriminately. (I'd now say that I know the manual more or less forwards and backwards when it comes to reading shorthand; when it comes to writing, though, I have a lot of work to do on brief forms, phrases, and speed/accuracy building in general.) I'd like to start taking a more systematic approach, and will follow your advice. Now I've got to find Expert Shorthand…

    PS couldn't agree with you more: "$102.50 for these is ridiculous". Glad to hear this series of manuals and workbooks doesn't build significantly on standard ones.

  10. In short, yes: they are essentially equivalent.

    During WWII, the Armed Forces Institute and the Navy, in conjunction with the Gregg Publishing Company, were publishing manuals for learning shorthand. The Armed Forces Institute and Navy versions are exactly the same, the difference being the cover. There is a textbook, exactly the same as the "Gregg Shorthand: New Rapid Course", published in 1940 (122 pages, no new material), and a workbook divided by the paragraphs of the manual, which included additional words used in Navy and Army correspondence. There is also an advanced manual, which is basically a reduction of the fist edition of the book "Gregg Speed Building", with additional dictation material dealing with government correspondence. Advanced means "Speed Building".

    When Simplified Gregg came about, another manual was put out by the Armed Forces Institute, which was exactly the same as the Gregg Shorthand Simplified Manual – Functional Method.

    The Gregg Publishing Company also published vocabulary lists and shortcuts for Army, Navy, Civil Service, and Congressional correspondence.

    These books are not that rare. In my opinion, $102.50 for these is ridiculous.

    There are quite a few publications that are considered "advanced" and their use will depend in part on what kind of vocabulary you want to develop, and on whether you want to be a reporter or not. Here are some: the Gregg Dictation and Transcription book by Renshaw and Leslie, the later editions of the Gregg Speed Building books by Gregg, the Speed Drills in Gregg Shorthand by Leslie, the Expert Shorthand Speed Book by Blanchard and Zoubek, and what I consider the holy grail, the Gregg Shorthand Reporting Course by Swem and Gregg.

  11. You have a pretty good library. You have the most difficult to find: the Swem and Gregg book. Keep an eye for the Expert Shorthand Speed Book, which is a rarity too. To develop reporting speed (starting from a good foundation — which means knowing the manual, the brief forms, and the phrases forwards and backwards), I would use the sequence Gregg Speed Building -> Speed Drills -> Expert Shorthand -> Reporting Course, with perhaps studying from Gregg Speed Building and Speed Drills at the same time.

  12. You have a pretty good library. You have the most difficult to find: the Swem and Gregg book. Keep an eye for the Expert Shorthand Speed Book, which is a rarity too. To develop reporting speed (starting from a good foundation — which means knowing the manual, the brief forms, and the phrases forwards and backwards), I would use the sequence Gregg Speed Building -> Speed Drills -> Expert Shorthand -> Reporting Course, with perhaps studying from Gregg Speed Building and Speed Drills at the same time.

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