diff --git a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/developers-handbook/tools/chapter.sgml b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/developers-handbook/tools/chapter.sgml
index 53a178128b..2458e94c02 100644
--- a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/developers-handbook/tools/chapter.sgml
+++ b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/developers-handbook/tools/chapter.sgml
@@ -1830,10 +1830,11 @@ else if (pid == 0) {		/* child */
 
       <para>Instead of using a proprietary macro language for
 	configuration, Emacs uses a version of Lisp specially adapted
-	for editors, known as Emacs Lisp.  This can be quite useful if
-	you want to go on and learn something like Common Lisp, as
-	it is considerably smaller than Common Lisp (although still
-	quite big!).</para>
+	for editors, known as Emacs Lisp.  Working with Emacs Lisp can
+	be quite helpful if you want to go on and learn something like
+	Common Lisp.  Emacs Lisp has many features of Common Lisp,
+	although it is considerably smaller (and thus easier to
+	master).</para>
 
       <para>The best way to learn Emacs Lisp is to download the <ulink
 	  URL="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/old-gnu/emacs/elisp-manual-19-2.4.tar.gz">Emacs