[HN Gopher] The Science of Scientific Writing (1990)
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The Science of Scientific Writing (1990)
Author : Tomte
Score : 58 points
Date : 2022-08-16 07:00 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.americanscientist.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.americanscientist.org)
| avsteele wrote:
| This is a good document. I remember receiving it from my boss at
| NIST when I got there as a postdoc.
| giogadi wrote:
| This is the single most influential article on ALL my
| professional communication. Before reading this article I used to
| consider my emails/documents/etc finished as soon as they
| included all of the content I wanted to cover. This taught me
| empathy for the reader in writing. And if writing can help the
| writer clarify their ideas, then clarifying your writing can even
| improve how you organize your own thoughts.
| AlexGood wrote:
| How to write science: many years ago, this piece has transformed
| my scientific writing. It's one of those vital skills that are
| mysteriously never taught in college. In a gist, by understanding
| the reader's expectations, you can write text that the reader
| will immediately get.
| eimrine wrote:
| How to write science by Michael Hochberg?
| Tomte wrote:
| George Gopen hails from the same school of writing as Joseph
| Williams[1] and Larry McInerny[2]. He has also written a book
| that dives deeper into things[3].
|
| [1]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Style:_Lessons_in_Clarity_and_...
|
| [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtIzMaLkCaM
|
| [3] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3393233-the-sense-of-
| str...
|
| Unfortunately, [3] is a bit tedious, IMO, go for [1], which is
| the best book about writing, bar none.
|
| Second best in principle is Thomas' & Turner's "Clear and simple
| as the truth", but it is hardly applicable to scientific (or
| technical) writing. If you're thinking about writing essays, get
| T&T.
| thcipriani wrote:
| I love this list.
|
| An additional resource I would add to it is Steven Pinker's
| "Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the
| 21st Century"[0].
|
| Pinker's book advocates for the same classical style as
| Williams and Thomas & Turner. But Pinker also offers a deep
| dive into grammar, linguistics, and word choice (Pinker is a
| member of the American Heritage Dictionary's Usage Panel[1])
|
| One other note: Joseph Williams's "Style: Lessons in Clarity
| and Grace" is available in roughly infinite editions under
| similar titles. PDFs of some of those titles are available for
| free online.
|
| [0]: <https://stevenpinker.com/publications/sense-style-
| thinking-p...> [1]:
| <https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/usagepanel.html>
| _qua wrote:
| Just wanted to add another vote for "Sense of Style." In
| addition to exploring the subject matter in the posted
| article in more detail, it also exposed me to the concept of
| the "curse of knowledge" which has been instrumental in
| helping my approach toward communication.
| cratermoon wrote:
| I have Williams' book and endorse it. Also worth picking up is
| William Zinsser's _On Writing Well_
| https://www.harpercollins.com/products/on-writing-well-willi...
| teddyh wrote:
| > _Larry McInerny[2]._
|
| *Larry McEnerney
|
| (I, too, recommend his talk.)
| [deleted]
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