A Field Guide for Science Writers: The Official Guide of the National Association of Science Writers |  | Creators: Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, Robin Marantz Henig
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
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Seller: allnewbooks
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 26293
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0195174992
Dewey Decimal Number: 070.4495
EAN: 9780195174991
ASIN: 0195174992
Publication Date: August 25, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Science writers are translators of sorts: they transform the jargon-laden language and arcane concepts of the science world into something the rest of us can understand and even appreciate. For this, they must be able to comprehend (and assess the value of) the science at hand, then simplify, calling into action whatever metaphor and analogy they can find to get the idea across. For this indispensable guidebook, 39 committed and enthusiastic science writers chime in about what their jobs entail. Among them are newspaper reporters, magazine and journal contributors, book authors, and freelance, editorial, and op-ed writers. Specialists relate the intricacies of covering topics such as infectious diseases, neuroscience, the environment, and technology. A final section explores science-writing jobs for colleges and universities, government agencies, museums, and industry. Particularly fascinating is the chapter by Mary Knudson, a freelance writer who covered medicine for the Baltimore Sun for 18 years and one of the editors of this book; in the chapter, she dissects one of her articles, explaining how she arrived at each piece of information included therein.
Product Description
The best guide for teaching and learning effective science writing, this second edition of A Field Guide for Science Writers improves on the classic first edition with a wider range of topics, a new slate of writers, and an up-to-date exploration of the most stimulating and challenging issues in science. In this collection of essays, nationally known science writers Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, and Robin Marantz Henig assemble the best science writers working today to explain what they do and how to do it well. Field Guide combines detailed and practical how-to advice with thoughtful discussions of the challenges of science journalism in the 21st century. It doesn't shy away from addressing such controversial matters as cloning, stem cell research, eugenics, medical overtreatment, and questions of scientific honesty. Offering a comprehensive overview of the field of science writing, this book discusses a broad range of media and sources, from newspapers to broadcast journalism and from corporations to government agencies. It also provides a detailed analysis of some of the hottest fields in science writing ranging from mental health to human genetics and covers a diverse array of writing styles, from "gee-whiz" to investigative. With more than 45 esteemed contributors people who work for such leading news outlets as Scientific American, Popular Science, Discover, Smithsonian, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal this book is an invaluable resource for current and aspiring science writers, students and instructors in science writing and journalism, and scientists who are interested in science communication.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
 don't be misled by the other reviews December 16, 2005
Robin Henig (New York, NY USA)
23 out of 23 found this review helpful
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.
good book March 16, 2009
J. Bodnar (Florida)
This is a good book. It has some great examples of science and nature writing. I enjoyed reading a lot of the pieces in it, especially the one on plastics in the North Pacific Gyre.
Essential reading December 19, 2006
Winthrop Morgan (Bethesda, MD USA)
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Doing science writing without reading this is like preaching in a Baptist church without having read the Bible.
Buy it. Read it. Keep it at your elbow.
Field Guides July 18, 2004
D. Bradley (Cambridge)
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
As a fairly experienced science writer - http://www.sciencebase.com/resume.html - I didn't anticipate learning any news tricks from this book, but it's well worth checking out if your journalistic beat is anything from astronomy to zoology by way of molecular architecture and quantum mechanics
Trade secrets galore! October 22, 1999
ROBERT M. SHEALY (SC)
4 out of 16 found this review helpful
With a foreword by Carl Sagan, this book is a treasure of "how to" information by the best writers in many fields of science writing.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
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