Montgomery wants scientists to cast off the straitjacket of convention when they write for other scientists, or at least to ask a friend to loosen the ties. He covers a huge amount of ground, from papers and review articles to book reviews, presentations, and online publishing. He has some excellent practical advice for nervous publishing virgins with writer's block as ... Read morewell as encouragement for more experienced writers flirting coyly with metaphor and the occasional rhetorical flourish.
Praise for the first edition New Scientist Montgomery acknowledges that the training of scientists, unlike higher education in the humanities, has long excluded the formal development of writing, oral presentation, and editing. But he sets out to dispel the notion that scientists are inherently less skilled at the art of communication. . . . Armed with a little more knowledge of basic tenets of writing, he says, any scientist can write with eloquence.
Praise for the first edition Science Enhanced with approximately 100 additional pages, this second edition is a testament to the success of the first one. . . . Montgomery emphasizes reaching nontechnical audiences and characterizes clear and compelling communications as 'required forms of professional competence.'
Choice Montgomery again provides accessible, actionable advice that will help researchers excel at the fundamentals of their craft, from writing and reviewing scientific manuscripts to drafting compelling grant proposals and to delivering engaging oral presentations. However, it is in the second edition's newest material that the book truly shines. The author's exploration of new topics such as teaching science communication, communicating science to public audiences, science translation, and online communication necessarily address the increased dynamism of the modern communication ecosystem for science.
Quarterly Review of Biology That the author excels at demystifying the language of science will surprise no one who is familiar with the original edition. Montgomery again provides accessible, actionable advice that will help researchers excel at the fundamentals of their craft, from writing and reviewing scientific manuscripts to drafting compelling grant proposals and to delivering engaging oral presentations. However, it is in the second edition's newest material that the book truly shines. The author's exploration of new topics such as teaching science communication, communicating science to public audiences, science translation, and online communication necessarily address the increased dynamism of the modern communication ecosystem for science.
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