Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?

#11

Post by jnxx » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 2:24 PM UTC

"Effective Writing for Engineers, Managers, Scientists" by H.J. Tichy is the best book I have seen on the subject.

    Publisher:  ‎ Wiley-Interscience, 1988

    ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780471807087

    ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0471807087

Re: Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?

#12

Post by macintux » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 2:32 PM UTC

jnxx wrote: post #11

"Effective Writing for Engineers, Managers, Scientists" by H.J. Tichy is the best book I have seen on the subject. Publisher: ‎ Wiley-Interscience, 1988 ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780471807087 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0471807087

ISBN-10 appears to be 0471807087. Amazon got it wrong.

Re: Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?

#13

Post by EddieDante » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 2:33 PM UTC

Strunk & White's The Elements of Style is a classic.

Re: Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?

#14

Post by staccatomeasure » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 2:42 PM UTC

http://web.mit.edu/6.033/www/ has links to a ton of really great examples of technical writing

Re: Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?

#15

Post by scruple » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 2:47 PM UTC

EddieDante wrote: post #13

Strunk & White's The Elements of Style is a classic.

I keep a copy on my desk and thumb through it occasionally when I need help with my writing. Next to that book is also a copy of Williams and Colomb's Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. I've also read the USAF Tongue and Quill. There are good lessons in all 3 of these books for technical writers.

Re: Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?

#16

Post by prcribeiro » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 2:50 PM UTC

The Microsoft Style Guide is a useful resource for clearing up questions or obtaining recommendations on how to write most of the things you mention:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/style-guide/welcome/

There are other style guides, of course. Check out this list at Write the Docs:

https://www.writethedocs.org/guide/writing/style-guides/

If you're searching for more generic information on how to communicate technical content effectively to different audiences, check out this list of recommended books:

https://www.writethedocs.org/books/

Re: Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?

#17

Post by subpixel » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 2:57 PM UTC

Developing Quality Technical Information is a very good foundation: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/developing-quality-tech...

Re: Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?

#18

Post by sstevenshang » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 3:04 PM UTC

Good technical writing is good writing. Just learn how to write well in general. I recommend going through The Elements of Style and basically any college level writing course materials.

Re: Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?

#19

Post by wyclif » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 3:07 PM UTC

My AP high school English teacher taught me "garbage in, garbage out." His point was that if you want to write high level prose, you need to be reading the best prose stylists and be influenced by them. Read the best writers and stop reading garbage.

Re: Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?

#20

Post by pivic » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 3:11 PM UTC

I am a professional technical writer. When I started out, I desperately looked for tips and tricks. Internet was (and is) full of tips but I could not find a tech-writing bibliography.

I will soon publish a bibliography of books and guides regarding technical writing. I promise to paste a link here when I am finished, which I believe I will be in a day or two.