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Title: A Field Guide for Science Writers by Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson ISBN: 0-19-512494-4 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: November, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Field Guide for Science Writers who read with a microscope
Comment: Was very excited to get reading my new paperback copy of "A Field Guide for Science Writers." However, I could not read it!
The text is size 6 font and the chapter blurbs and excerpts are size 4 sans serif. Would be comical if I hadn't paid $20. Seems like a lot of people worked on this unreadable piece. I suspect the book says "consider your audience" and stuff like that, or maybe it doesn't, I will never know. I read 2 or 3 books a week, so I took a look at the last batch of things I have read to see if I was hallucinating, but alas, this book is the smallest font by about half...
Hope I can get my money back.
Seems a bit lazy to this writer and editor. Would not expect shabby design from a writer's organization.
Maybe the hardback is better?
Rating: 4
Summary: Handy guide for would-be science writers
Comment: The editor's note says that the primary goal of this book is "to help train a new generation of science writers." I think the key word there is "help." One is certainly not ready to go out and be a science writer after reading this slim volume, but then one shouldn't expect to be.
What I think this book does do is to give the reader some idea of what's involved in being a science writer and to provide numerous pointers along the way. This is done in several ways. The first section of the book contains half-a-dozen chapters on the different "homes" of science writers: newspapers, magazines, journals, broadcast media, etc. The second section focuses more on technique: the use of sources, handling statistics, and so on. The third section addresses science writing from a topical perspective: how to write about subjects like biology, astronomy, and technology. And the fourth section has several chapters on being a science writer at various sorts of institutions (universities, government agencies, businesses), rather than for the media.
Each chapter is written by a different person who is an expert in that area. For someone like me who knows his science writers, there are some notable names here: Julie Ann Miller, editor of Science News, has a chapter about writing for trade journals; John Noble Wilford, who covered Project Apollo for the New York Times and wrote the very first book to come out about Apollo 11, addresses writing science books; PBS personality Ira Flatow discusses doing science on television.
The book concludes with an appendix covering useful sources of information, which seems handy. I particularly want to order the chart of the fundamental particles--I've never been able to keep those straight!
So this is a very useful book for someone going into science writing and interesting, too, to anyone who wants to know what's involved in covering science from a journalistic perspective.
Rating: 5
Summary: Trade secrets galore!
Comment: With a foreword by Carl Sagan, this book is a treasure of "how to" information by the best writers in many fields of science writing.
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Title: The Art of Science Writing by Dale Worsley, Bernadette Mayer ISBN: 091592420X Publisher: Teachers & Writers Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Science in Public: Communication, Culture, and Credibility by Jane Gregory, Steve Miller ISBN: 0738203572 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 21 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: News & Numbers: A Guide to Reporting Statistical Claims and Controversies in Health and Other Fields by Victor Cohn, Lewis Cope ISBN: 0813814243 Publisher: Iowa State University Press Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $27.99 |
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Title: The Best American Science Writing 2003 by Oliver Sacks ISBN: 0060936517 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 02 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Best American Science Writing 2002 by Matt Ridley, Alan Lightman ISBN: 0060936509 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 03 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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