I&#x27;ve read all three books listed by the author (<i>K&amp;R, Expert C Programming - Deep C Secrets, and C - A Reference Manual</i>), and although these really help make sense of how C declarations work, the best &quot;trick&quot; that I&#x27;ve come across is the Clockwise&#x2F;Spiral Rule: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;c-faq.com&#x2F;decl&#x2F;spiral.anderson.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;c-faq.com&#x2F;decl&#x2F;spiral.anderson.html</a><p>Someone showed me this trick right after college, and it has saved me in numerous scenarios. That and <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;cdecl.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;cdecl.org&#x2F;</a>