Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder, published in 2011, is a story about a pharmaceutical researcher’s attempt to make sense of her lost colleague, presumably dead in the Amazon, while wrestling with a domineering academic professor who refuses to communicate updates about her research. The book begins at a slow pace but, as Janet Maslin notes in her New York Times review, the story catches fire … more »

Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson, is a fantasy trilogy that takes you into a world where the characters can “burn” metals inside their bodies to give rise to certain powers, such as increased strength, the ability to push and pull other metals, an enhancement of the senses, or the most potent of all, the ability to see several seconds into the future (critical for fighting). Mistings … more »

I recently read Tagging: People-Powered Metadata for the Social Web (2008), by Gene Smith. Smith dives into tagging as a method for adding metadata to resources, which in turn increases the organization and findability of the resources. Traditional help authoring tools categorize resources through folders (a carryover from Windows folders), whereas web platforms typically use tags. Tags are actually a quick and easy way to attach metadata … more »

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is one of the most suspenseful page-turners I’ve read in a while. I actually listened to it via Audible, and I was so pulled into the story that I found myself doing dishes, cleaning up, driving slowly — anything so that I could prolong listening to the book. A couple of nights I stayed up past 1 am listening … more »

Last year I wrote a review of the Old Testament. It was an off-topic post that I almost regretted posting, except that I did get a few comments from readers who appreciated my side jog because it showed I think about more than technical writing. This year I’ve been reading the New Testament, which is much shorter but also more challenging in some ways. I … more »

The Lonely Polygamist, by Brady Udall (published in 2010), is a masterpiece of a novel, pulling us not only inside a less than familiar family situation — one of polygamy — but also managing to connect the reader with universal family themes. Even if you’ve never met a polygamist (I haven’t), there’s plenty in here that any parent can relate to — feeling overwhelmed by children, … more »

A Practical Guide to Designing with Data (Five Simple Steps, 2010), by Brian Suda, is a thorough exploration of best practices for graphs and charts. It’s somewhat similar to Edward Tufte’s Visualizing Information in focus, and both have a shared antipathy toward “chart junk” in the effort to tell the story of data. Suda explains, The main purpose of this book is to encourage you … more »

Joe Welinske’s latest book, Developing User Assistance for Mobile Apps (published June 2011), fills a gap in tech comm literature that is sorely needed. Joe explores strategies and techniques for providing user assistance for mobile devices, and goes in depth with iOS, Android, Windows, and tablets. Early in the book, he explains: Hopefully the organizations that employ us will start buying smartphone devices for us … more »

In Everything is Miscellaneous, Dave Weinberger argues that classifications that we have imposed on most everything from the alphabet to the encyclopedia, planets, books, and knowledge ultimately represent our own beliefs and priorities. As time changes, we see how our own thinking at that time inclined us to organize the information that way. In reality, things in the world don’t have such clear-cut categories and … more »

Letting Go of the Words (2007), by Ginny Redish, puts forward an idea that many readers will eagerly embrace: think of writing as you would a conversation. Anticipate the reader’s questions as you craft your content. Redish explains, If you think of the web as conversation, you’ll realize that much of your content is meant to answer the questions that people come with. you do … more »

The Elements of Content Strategy (A Book Apart, 2011), by Erin Kissane, provides the most brief yet thorough treatment of content strategy that you’re going to find. In about 75 pages, she lays out the principles of content strategy, traces its origins, and then outlines her methodology for doing content strategy. It’s a well-written, easy-to-follow handbook that should occupy a space on the shelf of … more »

[amazon-product align="right" alink="#082ef6" height="250" region="us" tracking_id="idrabewr-20"]0596802277[/amazon-product] Search Patterns: Design for Discovery (2010, O’Reilly), by Peter Morville and Jeffrey Callender, explores search in depth, from every possible angle. Search Patterns is a must-read for anyone interested in search and findability. It should be particularly applicable to technical communicators, who rely on search as a key method for users to locate information. The book is foundational and, … more »

The Old Testament is not something one typically reviews in a blog post, but I’ve been reading it for the past year, and I want to write down some of my thoughts about the text. This is, after all, a blog about writing. Where does one even begin? Let’s start with purposes, in other words, why I was even reading the Old Testament. In our house … more »

Alan Porter’s Wiki: Grow Your Own for Fun and Profit, published by XML Press in October 2010, provides an excellent introduction to wikis. This is a short, easy-to-read book spanning about 150 pages. Alan has a keen sense of organization and liveliness in his writing. He carries the gardening metaphor throughout the book, ending with five solid case studies and an extended response to common … more »

I received the following question from a reader: I have semi-transitioned to a new position at my job where I’m responsible for creating and maintaining documentation for our systems, programs, policies, etc. I was selected for the position because I have written many tutorials for our applications to be read by new employees. Since I have no formal education in writing (I love to write, … more »