IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, VOL. PC-25, NO. 1, MARCH 1982 51

Book Reviews

The Writing System for Scientists and Engineers-Edmond H. Weiss (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1981, 274 Pages, $16.95).

We expect a book with the title The Writing System to be about a systematic approach to technical writing, a step-by-step method of producing good writing. Indeed, the emphasis of this book is on the strategy of writing, but it is both broader and narrower in scope than the title suggests. How can it be both broader and narrower?

This text is broader than just a writing system in that the author has three goals:

1. To convince the reader that writing is a fundamental part of engineering and scientific work;

2. To prove that the same skills are used in good writing as are used for good engineering and good science; and

3. To teach a practical procedure to produce good writing results.

I have paraphrased Mr. Weiss's statement of his goals but I think these briefer phrasings are faithful to his intent. The goals are certainly worthy goals and I believe he accomplishes them. However, the author spends comparatively little time on the first two. I would like to have seen much more develop­ment of these important ideas and realistic examples to sus­tain his arguments.

In my mind this text is also broader than a writing system in that nearly half the text is taken up in the final step of The Writing Process (sic), editing. Granted, editing is an im­portant part of producing good writing and I suppose that publishers and authors see their books as stand-alone texts that have to cover all of the writing process. But many other texts do as well or better than this one in describing the work of editing in gory detail. The familiar lists of "dos and don'ts" and "before and after" are here, but too often the rules and reasons for the editing are unclear. The author could have better used the space to further flesh out and support his basic premise—his writing system—and have just referred the reader to a good book on editing. Of course this text is not unique in having this problem. Almost every technical writing book has some kind of handbook section. Perhaps this has occurred because most books on technical writing originate as texts for some class. I think it is time that the industry grew past this tendency.

Perhaps I have erred in saying that this book is narrower in scope than its title. After all, the title promises only a

writing system. My problem is that I am aware of several writing systems and I am not at all sure that one system is best for all writing tasks or for all writers. I would like to have seen some comparison of various systems and an evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses, to justify Mr. Weiss's confidence in his system.

All carping about the scope of this book aside, the things it does, it does well. After the too brief description of writing as an essential ingredient in an engineering or scientific en­deavor, an excellent analysis of selecting purpose, audience, and objectives is made. (Purpose and objectives are not synon­ymous as Weiss explains clearly.) All writers would do well to follow his lead in this area. Weiss's analysis of writing to mixed audiences is penetrating and thought provoking.

The succeeding chapters on outlining (and using the outline to make certain your objectives are met) are very thorough. Some writers may find the outlines suggested by Weiss too detailed. But Weiss's theories and applications are cogently presented and carry a lot of influence.

The author also discusses how his ideas are applied to various writing assignments. He covers proposal writing, long reports, and instruction manuals with far more detail than is typical in a text of this kind. Unfortunately, shorter writing assignments are somewhat glossed over.

This book is especially valuable and unique for its in-depth treatment of team writing projects. Weiss covers this area from the viewpoint of both the person who must coordinate it and the writer on the team. Many of the ideas in this section I haven't seen anywhere else.

The final half of the book is guidance on editing and im­proving your writing, as I mentioned earlier. This treatment is adequate but no better and no worse than many others.

One final comment—boxes to isolate and highlight material may be good graphics, but putting part of a box on one page and part on another is neither good graphics nor easy to use.

Taken as a whole this is an interesting and stimulating text. I think it would be of special value to those who do much lengthy writing or team writing. You may not agree with everything in it, but you will learn from it.

KENNETH B. POWELL Dept. of Business Regulation 6000 State Office Building Salt Lake City, UT 84134