BKMSTCWR.RVW 940413 Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Heather Rignanesi, Marketing, x340, 73171.657@Compuserve.com P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 or Tiffany Moore, Publicity tiffanym@aw.com Bob Donegon bobd@aw.com John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com Tom Stone, Editor, Higher Education Division tomsto@aw.com Philip Sutherland, Schulman Series 74640.2405@compuserve.com Keith Wollman, Trade Computer Group keithw@aw.com 1 Jacob Way Reading, MA 01867-9984 800-822-6339 617-944-3700 Fax: (617) 944-7273 5851 Guion Road Indianapolis, IN 46254 800-447-2226 "Mastering Technical Writing", Mancuso, 1990, 0-201-52350-7 When you first open the book, you will probably be surprised. Mancuso uses a technical manual layout. Think about it for a moment. The book looks like a technical manual because the book is a technical manual--a manual on how to write manuals. The book is divided into four parts, the first simply a short introduction. Part two discusses the steps and attitudes you need in order to prepare to write. Mancuso emphasizes the poor writing habits which block effective communication. He also points out the problems bad writing can cause, the need for technical documents, and the process of documentation. Part three presents an ordered overview of the process of writing. Chapters five to twelve cover objectives, material, brainstorming, organizing, outlining, design, and the writing, itself. The weakest part of this section is in the areas of categorizing and sorting the material. This shortcoming is important. Much of the material that I review is weak in these same areas, and I would have appreciated stronger examples here. Part four presents tips on revising documents in order to avoid the most common errors in technical writing: passive voice, weak verbs, jargon and verbiage. There are also exercises to identify and correct twelve common grammatical errors. The word "revise" in the title may cause misunderstanding: the process of revision should eventually become part of the writing process, itself. The reference manual layout makes it easy to follow the points in the book and you can quickly find material you are looking for. Mancuso follows his own advice and gives a handy and realistic tool for those who need to start, improve or polish their writing. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKMSTCWR.RVW 940413 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 DECUS Symposium '95, Toronto, ON, February 13-17, 1995, contact: rulag@decus.ca