[1] Lysaker's first argument is that writing should be regarded as a praxis and not a techne, which opens it to the kind of deliberation Aristotle champions in his ethics.

After considering the ways in which various genres and logical-rhetorical operations influence how thought unfolds (with an extended section on irony), Lysaker turns to a second question he finds essential to deliberate writing.

As with thought's self-relation, different genres and logical-rhetorical operations prompt and solicit different responses from readers, a point Lysaker argues in various contexts, including the polemic and the professional article, and with regard to the elusive phenomenon of voice.

Lysaker's final argument is that texts can be written (or read) as wholes if one gathers how they relate to thought's unfolding, their addressees, and their historical moment.

[2] The book was reviewed by Jeffrey A. Bernstein (College of the Holy Cross)[3] and John Kaag (University of Massachusetts Lowell).