- Hardcover: 300 pages
- Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc (24 April 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195100689
- ISBN-13: 978-0195100686
- Product Dimensions: 24 x 16 x 2.5 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,785,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
"This knowledgeable group of writers and editors points readers to the best sources and stories, discusses investigative reporting, tells how to pitch finished articles to editors, and much more."--Science News
"Pick a scientific field... and 1 of 38 science writers will tell you his or her secrets of writing clearly, and with the force of human narrative, about subjects often muddled in the public mind."--The Bloomsbury Review
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"Pick a scientific field... and 1 of 38 science writers will tell you his or her secrets of writing clearly, and with the force of human narrative, about subjects often muddled in the public mind."--The Bloomsbury Review
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
This text provides practical advice to aspiring science writers and professionals in scientific fields who want to improve their writing. It explains how to cover science, medicine, public health, technology, the environment and energy issues for newspapers, books, magazines and broadcast journalism. Journalists describe the special career attractions and differing requirements of science journalism in each type of media, as well as respective difficulties and rewards. They also present techniques for good science writing and working outside the media.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
Many years ago, when I was laid up from a ski accident after covering politics for my newspaper, a well-intentioned friend brought me an astronomy book. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Many years ago, when I was laid up from a ski accident after covering politics for my newspaper, a well-intentioned friend brought me an astronomy book. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
11 reviews
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Handy guide for would-be science writers
15 Feb 2001
Format:Paperback
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.
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful
don't be misled by the other reviews
16 Dec 2005
Format:Paperback
I'm one of the co-editors of the second edition of Field Guide, and I'd like to point out that most of the customer reviews posted here refer to the first edition. We've changed just about everything in this version, including the font size. Most importantly, we have a huge list of world-class contributors -- Tim Ferris, Phil Yam, Tom Siegfried, Lew Cope, Nancy Shute, David Everett, Carey Goldberg, Ron Seely, Lee Hotz, Janice Tanne, Colin Norman, Joe Palca, Kathryn Brown, Carl Zimmer, Alan Boyle, Tammy Powledge, Mariette DiChristina, Gareth Cook, Antonio Regalado, Rob Kunzig, George Johnson, Jamie Shreeve, Rob Kanigel, Shannon Brownlee, Marilyn Chase, Sally Squires, Paul Raeburn, Kevin Begos, Steve Hall, Ken Chang, Michael Lemonick, Andy Revkin, McCay Jenkins, Glennda Chui, Usha Lee McFarling, Cris Russell, John Toon, Earle Holland, Joann Rodgers, Colleen Henrichsen, Frank Blanchard, Mary Miller, Marion Glick, and James Gleick. We tried to get Amazon to update their information on this page, but no luck -- so you'll have to just browse in some other way. Believe me, it's a beautiful and useful book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Welcome information and a good read.
6 Nov 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am a recently retired scientist and finally have the time to do some things important to me such as science writing. So I looked for a source to guide and inspire me. The Field Guide is all I could have wanted.
The editors have selected some of the best in the field to write and update the chapters. They begin each chapter with a helpful introduction to it's author. The Field Guide has excellent, timely, and useful information. It contains 'how to' chapters, 'where to look' and 'how to interview' chapters. Strunk and White would be impressed with the many examples of good writing. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
If you're a science writer, or want to be, you need the Field Guide as a reference and inspiration.
The editors have selected some of the best in the field to write and update the chapters. They begin each chapter with a helpful introduction to it's author. The Field Guide has excellent, timely, and useful information. It contains 'how to' chapters, 'where to look' and 'how to interview' chapters. Strunk and White would be impressed with the many examples of good writing. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
If you're a science writer, or want to be, you need the Field Guide as a reference and inspiration.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Management > Management Skills > Communication & Presentation > Writing Guides
- Books > Reference > Language > Handwriting
- Books > Reference > Writing > Journalism
- Books > Reference > Writing > Writing Skills
- Books > Science & Nature > Engineering & Technology > Engineering Skills & Design > Technical Writing
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Communication Studies > Media & Communication Industries > Press & Journalism
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
