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Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?

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

#41
post #20

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.

Commenting because I don't know a great way to find this comment in the future otherwise.

I have a decent learning & development stipend at my job, and I've been looking to buy some hard copies of technical writing books so I can refer to them easily during the workday. And to intimidate my enemies on Zoom, of course. So far my go-tos are "Docs for Developers" and the classic "Elements of Style", which complement each other well, covering the newest documentation strategies and the oldest nonfiction writing strategies, respectively. I'd really like to start posting reviews to my blog as I read more and build out my own library.

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

#42
Not technical writing, but the best book I've ever read on writing (including Elements of Style etc.) is "Getting Published in International Journals: Writing Strategies for European Social Scientists".

On the surface it's aimed at academics who are non-native speakers of English, but in my experience most people could do with reading it.

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

#43
post #20

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.

If you're that close to publishing just publish already :) This thread is dead in the next couple hours.

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

#45

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.

No. Good technical writing anicipates the questions that its readers willl have, and provides clear answers to those questions.

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

#48
I find Donald Knuth an awesome technical writer: https://jmlr.csail.mit.edu/reviewing-papers/knuth_mathematic...

Skip the math stuff if you don’t need it, the rest is still worth it.

However, much better than reading about writing is getting direct feedback on your own writing. Maybe offer mentoring to your juniors?

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

#49
post #20

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.

Commenting because I don't know a great way to find this comment in the future otherwise. I have a decent learning & development stipend at my job, and I've been looking to buy some hard copies of technical writing books so I can refer to them easily during the workday. And to intimidate my enemies on Zoom, of course. So far my go-tos are "Docs for Developers" and the classic "Elements of Style", which complement eac…

> Commenting because I don't know a great way to find this comment in the future otherwise.

You can favorite it.

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

#50
post #20

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.

Commenting because I don't know a great way to find this comment in the future otherwise. I have a decent learning & development stipend at my job, and I've been looking to buy some hard copies of technical writing books so I can refer to them easily during the workday. And to intimidate my enemies on Zoom, of course. So far my go-tos are "Docs for Developers" and the classic "Elements of Style", which complement eac…

> I don't know a great way to find this comment in the future otherwise.

click on the time of the comment and then bookmark the resulting page?

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