Book Description
Giving users the tools and know-how to become proficient technical writers, this state-of-the-art guide takes a hands-on approach to learning the ins and outs of the craft, organizing material around a series of task-oriented chapters that each focus on a typical kind of technical writing assignment. Centered around the belief that writing is a step-by-step process, it addresses the expanded roles and needs of the today's technical writer, and emphasizes the importance of technical communication in the professional workplace.Provides varied, real-life examples that show how writers progress from start to finish, emphasizing the choices writers make and why they make those choices. Covers traditional forms as well as specialized contemporary forms, such as abstracts, literature reviews, impact studies, user manuals, on-line documentation, and hypertext authoring. Focuses on the computer as an integral part of all areas of communication, and shows how to utilize the newest computer-based tools, including how to write for the World Wide Web. Now devotes an entire chapter to ethical issues encountered in both technical writing and in general writing classes.For technical writers.
Customer Reviews:
Comprehensive.......2002-01-02
This is an excellent book that covers many aspects of technical writing from memos, proposals, progress reports, and research reports, to citing references, resumes, and cover letters. However, the book is a bit dry at times (understandably), and is not perfectly organized.
Great tool for aspiring literate engineers.......2000-03-26
This book is very useful for engineering students or practising engineers who wish to possess excellent technical communication/writing skills. It will put to shame any engineer who claims that scientific mind can't be expected to be too literate. It is so comprehensive, touching upon all aspects of technical writing, such as writing to different audiences, techniques of researching, writing, editing and even how to obtain the most visually pleasing layout for your technical reports. Not only that, it includes some essential information like formats of reports and bibliography. Another big plus is it includes recent writing techniques, like electronic documents. Although a very large chunk of the book deals with technical writing, the authors have also discussed Oral Presentation in one of the last few chapters. I am using this book in my university technical writing course this semester, and I must say that I have benefited tremendously. It's really a must for everyone who deals with presentation of technical information in their work / daily life. And in the case of engineers, doesn't that "everyone" include all of us?
Average customer rating:
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Communicating Technical Information: A Guide to the Electronic Age, 2d ed.(Review) (book reviews): An article from: Technical Communication
Carol Brown
Manufacturer: Society for Technical Communication
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: B0009982WA
Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Technical Communication, published by Society for Technical Communication on November 1, 1998. The length of the article is 589 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Communicating Technical Information: A Guide to the Electronic Age, 2d ed.(Review) (book reviews)
Author: Carol Brown
Publication:
Technical Communication (Refereed)
Date: November 1, 1998
Publisher: Society for Technical Communication
Volume: 45
Issue: 4
Page: 562(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
You don't have to stifle your creative impulses to pay the bills. For anyone who's ever been told, "Don't quit your day job," career counselor Carol Eikleberry is here to say, "Pursue your dreams!" Now in its third edition, her inspiring guide provides knowledgeable career guidance, real-life success stories, and eye-opening self-evaluation tools to help artistic individuals figure out how to remain different, unconventional, and hard-to-categorize while finding work they love.
Customer Reviews:
Great book for ADDers.......2007-07-27
This book was written in the seventies. Whoever fell under the definition of "creative" in this book would be labelled ADD today. I wish I had found this gem when I was struggling through school figuring out what I want to do with my life. It's a great read that stands the test of time.
Some great quotes from the book:
"Again and Again, the findings from psychological and vocational studies indicate interests in art, music and literature are associated with more neurotic problems."
"The creative person just does not fit in the average work setting."
"The sensitive artistic person perceives a complex world in which certain elements are wrong or don't fit. Such internal conflict may help produce the emotional state that others perceive as moodiness and histrionics."
"Artistic types don't want so much to be like other artistic types as they want to be unlike all types."
"Creative people tend to be independent in their relation to authority figures. They want to do their own thing their own way."
"A sensitive, intuitive, expressive nature is no advantage when the task is to handle everyday maintenance chores by established rules. In fact, you may find that you are less efficient and more tired by the work than other people would be. "
So many of these statements ring true. If you want career advice or just want to see the preADDitude, this book is for you.
Ideal job-hunting resource for creatives.......2007-05-18
Dr. Eikleberry's research is based on the Holland Codes, three-letter codes designed to describe your work interests. You take an extensive interest test and get a three-letter code that describes, in order from most applicable to least, the three areas out of six that you have the most interest in. The idea is that there are six basic personality types when it comes to work, but that all of us possess some mixture of those types, and it's most useful to look at those three that best describe each of us. The six types are artistic, social, investigative, realistic, conventional, and enterprising.
The author does a wonderful job of addressing the fact that our interests aren't the only considerations we have when looking for a job. For instance, many people aren't happy unless they can work with people who have similar values to theirs, even if it means working at a job that doesn't perfectly suit them. Most people also need to take salary into account, since they have to make a living at what they do, and many artistic occupations don't pay much.
There's information on creative career choices that might support you fully; taking "normal" jobs as day jobs and working on your art in your own time; and composing your own career. The author uses inspiring anecdotes from people who've created whole new careers for themselves to show us that we can do what we're interested in, even if there doesn't seem to be a place for it right now.
This is a wonderful, focused, goal-directed book that should be able to help nearly any confused creative person find a better direction in life. It doesn't promise to find your dream job in five minutes, but then if it did, it would be lying--its purpose is to help you gradually find a rewarding and satisfying career.
An Enlightening Book for Creative People.......2006-01-02
Dr. Eikleberry's easy-to-read book helped me find a second career. The Career Guide of Creative and Unconventional People is chocked full of stories, pertinent information, and encouragement. Even if you've never thought of yourself as creative and unconventional, read Dr. Carol Eikleberry's book, you might be surprised.
Jean Tracy, MSS, "Granny Jean"
Author and Speaker
The Guiding Light.......2004-07-02
Pre-Eikleberry, I was beginning to believe that the possibility of having a stable yet creative career was a mere pipedream placed in my head by my idealistic liberal arts mentors. I was beginning to believe I had no other choice than to wither up inside the confines of a cubicle that would inevitably crush my dreams and my artistic potential. In this way, since my future was becoming hazy, reading Carol Eikleberry's book, "The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People," was like putting on a pair of glasses. After the first chapter it was clear that not all hope was lost. Right off the bat, Eikleberry validated my feelings of frustration and isolation. She offered comfort and recourse by relaying her own job experiences and those of her artistic clients. In essence, she was able to show me that I am not alone; there are options for creative people in the job world. In the first chapter, by coaxing me to define my personality and my skills, conventional and otherwise, she encouraged me to hone my career goals. Feeling productive, I went on to the second chapter and matched up my skills and interests with a comprehensive list of career choices. Also I was able to envision creating a unique patchwork career that would fulfill all my artistic needs. With Eikleberry's help I realized that it was okay to try several paths, that many people have done just that and, in the end, have found themselves filling creative niches no one thought existed. Because of this book my future now seems to be brimming with possibilities instead of dead ends. Ultimately, while Carol Eikleberry cannot usher you into an interview and land you the job of your dreams, she can certainly help to point the way by instilling you with the confidence to begin what she calls "the process of your adventure."
the right book for some of us.......2004-05-23
Before you buy this book, I think you should read all the reviews posted here. There is a wide range of opinion (Eikleberry would use the word divergent), and there is merit in all. If you are motivated to earn big money, you won't find this book helpful. It doesn't have nuts and bolts - could have used some hints on resumes and interview strategies for the creative folks who have changed jobs more frequently than others. It seems a little restrictive in its use of creativity - I believe we all are creative, only it looks different depending upon personalities and occupations.
This disclaimer notwithstanding, it's a great book. I'm a career counselor, with many clients who are or would be in the arts. I'm recommending this book to them. If you majored in music, theater, art, or even the liberal arts, you will be reassured by this book. If you wish you had majored in these things, it's not too late to get back to your first career aspirations in some employable form.
I particularly like the section on the interim job (which may be for a few months or for a lifetime). This can be reassuring to read, so the artistic soul can stop the self-flagellation because he/she "sold out" and took a job.
For the small cost of this book, you can become re-inspired and energized in your career quest.
Book Description
Investing can often be like riding a roller coaster—your portfolio will likely experience euphoric gains and nail-biting loses. With choices ranging from stocks and bonds to mutual funds and real estate, the need for sound financial advice has never been greater.
The updated Kiplinger's Guide to Investing Success, from the editors of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, will give you the knowledge and perspective you need to reach your investing goals—from how to define those goals to tips for creating a diversified portfolio with the most effective investment vehicles to help you reach them.
Kiplinger's Guide to Investing Success includes valuable worksheets, charts and graphs as well as standard financial formulas and a glossary of terms. People of all income levels will find this book a ""must-read"" for creating the right investment plan.
Book Description
This comprehensive, jargon-free guide has been thoroughly updated to include the latest tax changes and IRA rules.
Customer Reviews:
Kiplinger's Guide to Investing.......2000-03-30
A good introduction to saving and investing. Covers a broad range of subjects from CDs, IRAs, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, tax implications of investing, etc. Good first book for those who don't even know where to start. Provides suggestions on how to personalize your own investment plan and match your needs and goals. Simply and lucidly written.
Hits many topics and provides fairly conservative and realistic advice. Provides little specific advice and where to put money. Instead it teaches the reader how do the research needed to invest wisely.
Amazon.com
Sun Microsystems is the type of company that most new startups hope to become: massively profitable, astoundingly innovative, and supremely adaptable. But as Karen Southwick's engaging narrative High Noon makes clear, there were many bumps along the road to Sun's $25 billion market valuation. In fact, when Sun started out in the early '80s as a spinoff of the Stanford University Network (SUN), there was barely a road at all.
It's hard to remember a time when there wasn't a computer on every desktop, but in 1981, engineers had to stand in line to use their company's mainframes. Sun's business strategy was to sell a desktop workstation for each employee who needed a computer. On top of that, Sun allowed those workstations to exchange data via an intracompany network, and used graphical interfaces to make them easier to navigate. Standard stuff now, but a radical series of concepts back then, and it was inevitable that Sun would clash with Microsoft. Sun CEO Scott McNealy's enmity for the software colossus is well-known--he was a key player in the U.S. government's antitrust action against Microsoft in the late 1990s--and it temporarily scattered the company's focus, leading to a major reorganization.
The conclusion to the Sun story is, of course, unknown. Southwick ends her book with a peek into the future, speculating on what will become of promising computer languages like Java and Jini. But it seems like it'll be a long time before Sun sets. --Lou Schuler
Book Description
In 1982, a little upstart named Sun was making waves in the high-tech industry with its groundbreaking workstation technology, even as early competitors dismissed the company as not worth losing sleep over. Since then, Sun Microsystems has become a formidable presence in the industry, making its own rules and taking no prisoners, and is currently poised to reach the highest point of its ascendancy--the challenge of Microsoft's dominance over the future of computing.
The driving force behind this once fledgling company is a man who has been described as brash, unconventional, ambitious, forward-looking, and sometimes even his own worst enemy. Scott McNealy turned Sun into the multibillion-dollar success it is today--a developer of innovative software like Java that is revolutionizing the computing landscape.
High Noon is the inside story of Sun's rise to power, from its shaky start in Silicon Valley through its transformation under the aggressive and inspirational leadership of McNealy. Karen Southwick reveals the behind-the-scenes maneuverings of McNealy and Sun, with candid interviews from the key players and insights into the inner workings of the high-tech industry.
This book examines how scrappy underdog Sun overcame its larger and supposedly tougher competitors, combining hard work, tenacity, and talented people to build a more innovative and flexible company. You'll learn how McNealy moved Sun up the industry food chain, challenging more established companies like Hewlett-Packard and Digital Equipment by expanding Sun's product line and refocusing the business.
High Noon expertly chronicles McNealy's triumphant history with Sun, from his early days as vice president of manufacturing to a CEO known for shooting straight from the hip without regard for the consequences. You'll discover how "Javaman"--as Fortune magazine dubbed McNealy--prompted Sun to take risks that ultimately allowed it to survive, thrive, and dominate--making Microsoft stand up and take notice. And you'll see how Sun's looming showdown with this industry giant promises wide-reaching implications for businesses and consumers alike. Among High Noon's revelations:
* A new perspective on how the complex, contradictory McNealy shaped his company and fashioned its strategy
* Insight into central issues facing the high-tech industry, such as network computers and the future of the Internet
* An insider view of the maneuverings of industry powerhouses, including Microsoft, Oracle, Netscape, IBM, and Intel
* Both entertaining and instructive, High Noon offers valuable lessons for taking charge of your destiny and succeeding in a fast-paced, unpredictable, and even hostile environment.
Advance Praise for Karen Southwick's High Noon
"High Noon captures the electricity and drama of one of the most important high-tech sagas of our time. Rich with insight as well as previously undisclosed stories."--Jim Moore, Founder, GeoPartners Research, Inc. Author of The Death of Competition
"High Noon reveals the inside story of one of the companies Microsoft fears most, Sun Microsystems. Southwick uses her keen insight to tell the story of how four twenty-somethings created a company that has grown from a small seller of scientific computers to one of the most dominant high-tech firms in the world."--Eric Nee, Editor, Fortune
"Scott McNealy is one of the most complex, fascinating individuals in high tech. Karen Southwick captures the contrarian spirit of Sun Microsystems and the intriguing personalities that run it."--Howard Anderson, President, The Yankee Group
"High Noon takes us on a straight path to the future."--Dr. Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Novell, Inc.
"High Noon illustrates how a company can succeed in the technology industry through a delicate balance between drive, talent, and timing."--Carol Bartz, Chairman and CEO, Autodesk
Customer Reviews:
Not a good story book.......2006-01-31
Well, here I am, after reading the book for about two weeks every morning, and I am left with no deep impressions about either Sun or Scott.
The book appears to be a collection of newspaper articles. My first impression from the title of the book was that it talks a lot about Scott McNealy, which the author clearly failed to achieve. I guess the author could have rather written two books - a biography on Scott and business history of Sun. The book fails to achieve either of these satisfactorily.
I was hoping to know a lot about Java and Solaris, and although there were three chapters dedicated to Java, they didnt leave a lasting impression on me. The author seems to be unaware of other battles going around which would give Java a tough time to evolve.
Finally, the book doesnt really form a story. Its more like every chapter can be read almost independent of each other.
Thin.......2005-10-20
If you were on a desert island from 1982 to 1999, this book might have extra value to you. Otherwise, you may already know a great deal about what's covered in this book.
"High Noon" is quite readable but doesn't dig very deep. It provides a good, albeit Pollyanna-ish introduction to Sun's history and to McNealy...up until 1999. Did I learn anything? Yes, for example, I hadn't known that Gosling architected NeWS. But the level of this book isn't that much deeper than a Reader's Digest article.
If you don't know much about Sun's pre-2000 past and want a quick survey, "High Noon" may help you.
Good, just very dated.......2003-11-06
After recently taking on some professional responsibility for a large Solaris farm after a long hiatus (about a decade) from Sun technology, I thought this might catch me up with the company and products. It did provide some good info, but this work is over four years old, an eternity in technology. It certainly did not reflect Sun's rapid decline in market cap and Linux debacles, both of which landed it on the front page of the WSJ a few weeks ago.
I might have rated this four stars a few years ago. The only qualms are that the author should have presumed a more technical, computer-literate audience, and the audio quality was inferior (I listened to the unabridged Audible version).
Well researched and written, useful.......2002-09-27
Unlike most books of the high-tech, hero-worship genre, these authors actually did their homework and then wrote an intelligent, well organized history of Sun Microsystems and Scott McNealy. Given the multiple transformations that Sun has gone through (workstations, chip design, software design, servers, memory systems, enterprise hardware and software, and Java), as well as its famous feud with Microsoft and Mister Bill, that is no easy task, but they provide a succinct (225 page) and unbiased view that will be of interest to anyone who is interested in learning more about these subjects. The endnotes are particularly helpful.
Although the authors were not able to interview McNealy (he turned down their request), they do include intelligent observations about him and Sun from knowledgeable persons both within and outside Sun. Given the shallowness of McNealy's public comments and statements in other interviews to date (one suspects that he is finally learning to put a governor on his mouth), the omission is not noticeable.
It is rumored that Ms. Southwick is in the process of preparing a similar volume about Oracle and Larry Ellison. If so, it will be a welcome improvement over the swill (e.g., "The Oracle of Oracle" by Florence Stone) that has been published about them to date.
Needed more information about Sun the company.......2002-05-02
While I harbor no great love for Microsoft, I have even less for people who whine about a problem when they should be working on a solution. In my opinion, Scott McNealy is in that category. His constant verbal bashing of Microsoft detracts from what should be a positive message of Sun's advances in technology. Java, the crown jewel of software development at Sun, is a sound technical achievement. No one can examine the technical specifications of C#, the language developed at Microsoft, and not recognize its' Java "roots." In this book you learn about McNealy and I was gratified to learn that there are people at Sun who are just as frustrated at his "first whiner" tactics.
While Southwick goes to great lengths to maintain an even-handed approach, there is still a clear, although slight bias towards Sun. However, it does not detract from the quality. In my opinion, what lessened the value of the book was the emphasis on the personality of McNealy rather than that of Sun. As a major technology company, it is far more interesting than its' talkative CEO. From my perspective, Sun chief scientist Bill Joy is a more interesting personality than McNealy. A superlative, extrapolative thinker, Joy is someone to be listened to.
The complex interactions between Sun, IBM, HP, Oracle and Microsoft is one of the most fascinating events of our time. Simultaneously competitors as well as cooperators, how they move together dictates the rate of technical progress. This means far more to me than a series of negative comments about Bill and his group. Therefore, more ink should have been spent describing how these companies interact.
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