This is one of those rare US contributions that is able to cross the Atlantic and be readily understood by British readers. I am sure, however, that this is not through luck but more through the authors’ expertise in communication skills. I could find no area of this volume that was not universally relevant. Paradis and Zimmerman teach communication to engineering and science “majors” at the University of California (Santa Barbara) and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and have written an excellent, concise and highly current guide to communication in these two subject areas; in fact, most of what is written is not only relevant worldwide, but pertains to most academic subjects besides science and technology.
Four types of literacy are covered within the 18 chapters: written, oral, graphic and electronic. Each area is covered both theoretically and practically. Two further approaches of the authors are worthy of note; they concede that science is now almost completely a collaborative effort and also that the computer is now at the heart of any communications within such a collaborative scheme. This surely is one of the new breed of guides which places the computer at the helm of scientific communication and much of the book deals with practical aspects of such communication. A final feature of the guide is the introductory paragraphs which “drop you in it”. The sort of “You’ve been partying all night at the MIT Prom and next day you have to give a talk on ...” thing; what Americans call “contextual” or “situational” problems which have to be solved at a particular time and in regard to a particular audience. The authors give us some solutions (calling in sick is not one of them).
The 18 chapters consider general communication theory, the audience, drafting and organization, graphics, conducting meetings, memos/letters/electronic mail, proposals (“Can I make a suggestion?”), progress reports and reports, journal articles, electronic text, oral presentations, job search documents, literature searching and citation styles. Much of the “hard‐copy” material has been done before and it is the electronic material that will offer novelty to those not already into computer communication: “snowball searching”, the Fog Index, writing for the WWW and “flaming” (getting cathartic, my little darling, on the e‐mail, forgetting that the message may well end up being circulated in hard copy). The computer, electronic and graphic areas are the book’s strengths.
This is a first‐rate volume on the art of communication, never getting too deep so as to bog the reader down in grammatical niceties yet still covering an amazing range of topics. This is communication twenty‐first century style and the authors have met a need in their holistic approach. This is a guide I can very highly recommend to all interested in the art of communication, not just science and technology.
