There’s a joke in education along the lines that students are taught the notes their teachers wrote down at university 20 years earlier…without going through the heads of either. I mention this because there have been a number of technical communicators who have started to question the technical writing best practices that have been taught… Read more »
Category: book
Which books should Technical Authors read?
The bookshelves here at Cherryleaf are double stacked, and we’ve received another book this week to read and then store. So it seemed like a good time to mention which books we’d advise Technical Authors to read. This most recent book was published by XML Press, and their publications are well worth looking at. We have… Read more »
The best book for Technical Communicators in 2012
The best book I’ve read in 2012 wasn’t written for Technical Authors. It wasn’t even published in 2011. It was written by one my fellow speakers at the STC Conference in Chicago, and it was one that was the most thought provoking books I’ve read this year. One of the subjects it explores is curiosity:
How software users become champions
Matthew Syed is a British sports journalist and former three times Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who has been investigating what is needed to make people excellent at doing any task involving complexity. He argues that natural talent, your genes, are far less important than many people think. What’s important is practising what you can’t quite do…. Read more »
Book review: Confluence, Tech Comm, Chocolate
I was sent a review copy of Confluence, Tech Comm, Chocolate: A wiki as platform extraordinaire for technical communication, by Sarah Maddox. It’s about using wiki technology for developing and publishing technical documentation, using the Confluence platform, the emerging trends in the creation of User Assistance and, in places, chocolate. The book is aimed at three… Read more »