4 Books Every Technical/Scientific Writer Should Considering Reading

The following books are ones that "new" technical and scientific communicators should consider reading. The books look at technical writing from different perspectives and will prove useful to the experienced communicator as well.

Metaphor and Knowledge: The Challenges of Writing Science. Ken Baake

Summary: “Metaphor and Knowledge offers a sweeping history of rhetoric and metaphor in science, delving into questions about how language constitutes knowledge. Weaving together insights from a group of scientists at the Santa Fe Institute as they shape the new interdisciplinary field of complexity science, Ken Baake shows the difficulty of writing science when word meanings are unsettled, and he analyzes the power of metaphor in science.” (partial text available from Google Books)

What Writing Does and How It Does It: An Introduction to Analyzing Texts and Textual Practices. Charles Bazerman, Paul Prior, editors

Summary: “In What Writing Does and How It Does It, editors Charles Bazerman and Paul Prior offer a sophisticated introduction to methods for understanding, studying, and analyzing texts and writing practices. This volume addresses a variety of approaches to analyzing texts, and considers the processes of writing, exploring textual practices and their contexts, and examining what texts do and how texts mean rather than what they mean. Included are traditional modes of analysis (rhetorical, literary, linguistic), as well as newer modes, such as text and talk, genre and activity analysis, and intertextual analysis.” (full text)

Technical Writing: Process and Product. Sharon Gerson and Steven Gerson

Summary: “Technical Writing: Process and Product guides readers through the entire writing process—prewriting, writing, and rewriting—developing an easy-to-use, step-by-step technique for writing the types of documents they will encounter on the job. The authors' reader-friendly style engages readers in the writing process and encourages hands-on application. Discusses prewriting, writing, and rewriting in relation to ethics, audience identification, electronic communication, and the role of technical writing in the workplace. For anyone looking to utilize more effective written communication in their jobs.” (summary and e-learning resources available at publisher's website)

Professional and Technical Writing Strategies: Communicating in Technology and Science. Judith VanAlstyne and Merrill D. Tritt

Summary: “Comprehensive and easy-to-read, this award-winning reference for those in technical, engineering, and scientific fields emphasizes practical writing. Its presentation and applications offer simple guides that users can easily emulate. It combines instruction, sample papers, exercises and writing projects for manuals, correspondence, research and publication articles, and oral technical communications.” (summary)

Originally published on our Knowledge Management blog