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Spring Into Technical Writing, Barry Rosenberg, Paperback, Addison Wessley, 1st edition, Published May 2005, 336 pages, ISBN 0-201-70353-X. The book is intended for busy engineers and scientists who need to improve their writing skills in the workplace. It is divided into "chunks" with examples for easier comprehension. The book covers a surprisingly broad range of topics, including emails, power point presentations, and web pages, as well as the more ordinary topics of lab reports, white papers, technical manuals, proposals. This book is provided to enrolled students at company expense.

You should consider obtaining a copy of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. This classic is available at any bookstore for under $10. ISBN 0-205-30902-X. Available as a pocket-sized paperback, the book is now in its fourth edition, having first been published over eighty-five years ago. An online version of the first edition is available.

 

If you're curious about the English language in general, I suggest The Story of English, McCrum, Cran and MacNeil, ISBN 0-142-002313. This fascinating book is easy to read, with many maps and illustrations. Originally brought out as a companion book to a PBS Series on the English language, it is in its third edition and available in paperback for around $10.

 

Here's a highly regarded, recent book on graphics. Show Me the Numbers, ISBN 0970601999.

 

 

 

This is a book by the most notable expert in the field, Edward Tufte. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, ISBN 096139210X. Tufte has authored many books on the subject and has a website. It's Tufte who considers Charles Minard's map of Napolean's retreat from Moscow in 1812 as the best statistical graphic ever drawn.

Another, invaluable publication is the Raytheon Style Guide, version 1.4, September, 2005. Developed by the Raytheon style council, and updated quarterly, the guide provides a reference for writing at Raytheon. The guide is a supplement to the Associated Press Stylebook. The great value of the guide is the treatment of topics specific to Raytheon and to the defense business. You can download the guide from the company intranet, at the Corporate Identity section. Start with the Corporate Identity & Branding Quicklink at the left-hand side of the intranet home page. Then follow the Writing for Print and Web link on the Corporate Identity page. You'll find templates, letterheads, logos, and a host of other information on this page.

To gain perspective on the nature of technical writing, you might try reading some non-technical writing of contrasting styles. Ernest Hemmingway won the Nobel Prize in literature for his short, declarative sentences and terse prose. The novella The Old Man and the Sea is perhaps his best known work and you can read it in a couple of hours. Contrast Hemmingway's efficient style with Revolt in the Desert by T.E.Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). Lawrence is known for his Oxford style, which is anything but terse and efficient. Of these two styles, which do you imagine is most like good technical prose?