---
title: "Podcast: Five Books to Add to Your Technical Communication Library"
date: 2008-06-16
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# Podcast: Five Books to Add to Your Technical Communication Library

**Listen here:**

[Audio](https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/podcasts/hansenbookreview.mp3)

[![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/apple_podcasts.png)](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id-rather-be-writing-podcast/id277365275) [![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/watchonyoutubeblack.png)](https://www.youtube.com/@idratherbewriting) [![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/spotify.png)](https://open.spotify.com/show/4HeOZfPGMMfViOhVS40QBD)

In this podcast, [Heidi Hansen](https://heidilhansen.blogspot.com/) takes 15 minutes to discuss five books that she read over the past year and published book reviews for in the [Technical Communication journal](http://www.stc.org/pubs/techcommgeneral01.asp) that STC publishes.

Rather than being an interview-style podcast episode, this audio was recorded by Heidi at her home PC and quickly traverses the five books so that you can learn some key concepts about each book. The following are the five books that Heidi discusses:

- [User-Centered Design Stories: Real-World UCD Case Studies](https://www.amazon.com/User-Centered-Design-Stories-Interactive-Technologies/dp/0123706084)by Carol Righi and Janice James, 2007, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, ISBN 978-0-12-370608-9, 535 pages
- [Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction](https://www.amazon.com/Interaction-Design-Beyond-Human-Computer/dp/0470018666) by Helen Sharp, Yvonne Rogers, and Jenny Preece, 2007, 2nd ed. John Wiley, ISBN 978-0470018668, is a textbook at 773 pages $75 softcover
- [The Imagination Challenge: Strategic Foresight and Innovation in the Global Economy](https://www.amazon.com/Imagination-Challenge-Strategic-Foresight-Innovation/dp/0321413652)by Alexander Manu, 2007, Peachpit Press, ISBN 978-0321413659, 272 pages
- [Secrets of RSS](https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-RSS-Visual-QuickStart-Guide/dp/0321426223)by Steven Holzner, 2006, Peachpit Press, ISBN 978-0321426222, 344 pages
- [Professional XML](https://www.amazon.com/Professional-XML-Mark-Birbeck/dp/1861003110)by Bill Evjen, Kent Sharkey, Thiru Thangarathinam, Michael Kay, Alessandro Vernet, and Sam Ferguson, 2007, Wiley, ISBN 978-0471777779, 856 pages