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"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.
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This is the official text for the National Association of Science Writers. In the eight years since the publication of the first edition of A Field Guide for Science Writing, much about the world has changed. Some of the leading issues in today's political marketplace - embryonic stem cell research, global warming, health care reform, space exploration, genetic privacy, germ warfare - are informed by scientific ideas. Never has it been more crucial for the lay public to be scientifically literate. That's where science writers come in. And that's why it's time for an update to the Field Guide, already a staple of science writing graduate programs across the country. The academic community has recently recognized how important it is for writers to become more sophisticated, knowledgeable, and skeptical about what the write. More than 50 institutions now offer training in science writing. In addition mid-career fellowships for science writers are growing, giving journalists the chance to return to major developments, and hope to be part of them with this new edition of the Field Guide. In A Field Guide for Science Writers, 2nd Edition, the editors have assembled contributions from a collections of experienced journalists who are every bit as stellar as the group that contributed to the first edition. In the end, what we have are essays written by the very best in the science writing profession. These wonderful writers have written not only about style, but about content, too. These leaders in the profession describe how they work their way through the information glut to find the gems worth writing about. We also have chapters that provide the tools every good science writer needs: how to use statistics, how to weigh the merits of conflicting studies in scientific literature, how to report about risk. And, untimately, how to write.
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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.
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