Mixing memoir, scholarship, and social commentary, The Trouble With Words uses the ancient technique of commonplacing to produce a series of essays on why language and learning still matter in a world awash in lies, a world increasingly described, blush-free, as "post-truth." It seeks to counteract the idea that words no longer matter and, while entertaining and engaging readers, to encourage them to take up the practice of keeping a commonplace book-and maybe even to write their own. The book's final chapter offers tips on how best to keep a commonplace book.