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An old friend and a new old friend

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Arvada, Colorado, U.S.

Editor's note: Reproduced by permission of the American Geophysical Union, Bruce Marsh, Book Reviews: The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science by Scott L. Montgomery, EOS Transaction American Geophysical Union, Volume 84, No. 46, p. 509, 18 November 2003.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

As a technical writing instructor and reviewer, I too often encounter established authors who believe that anyone without gleaming credentials would have to have much audacity to make suggestions about writing. For some time I have mused over this hubris. But, it's mental concrete, and I have not found the voice to crack it. That is, until recently. The voice I found was one of their own.

I read a book review by Bruce Marsh, an acquaintance and geoscience professor at Johns Hopkins, of Scott L. Montgomery's technical writing book, The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science. Bruce is an established researcher with countless publications and a substantial reputation. What makes his review unique is his epiphany; he reads Montgomery's book, loves it, overcomes his hubris, and sees writing in a new light. I asked Bruce and the American Geophysical Union, who ran the review, permission to reprint. My strategy: Guilty parties hearing it from one of their own might also have an epiphany or two. [The italics are mine.]

Frankly, I was offended at the outset by two things about this book: the title and the blurb about the author. It is one thing for the Chicago Press to put out a book on the technical details of style. After . . . [Full Text of this Article]