Scientific English: A Guide for Scientists and Other Professionals

Abstract

<b>Good Style: Writing for Science and Technology</b>, by John Kirkman, 221 pp, paper $15.95, ISBN 0-419-17190-8, London, England, E &amp; FN Spon, 1992. <b>Writing Successfully in Science</b>, by Maeve O'Connor, 229 pp, with illus, $49.95, ISBN 0-04-445805-3, paper $14.95, ISBN 0-04-445806-1, New York, NY, Routledge Chapman &amp; Hall, 1991. More than a century ago, Dr John Shaw Billings, the polymathic founder of the National Library of Medicine and Index Medicus, laid down four rules for the aspiring author of a scientific article: Have something to say. Say it. Stop as soon as you have said it. Give the paper a proper title.¹ It would be hard to improve on these four precepts, but the publishing industry, perhaps reflecting its own "publish or perish" maxim, seems determined to do so. Today's aspiring author has a wealth of literature to choose from (or should that be from which to choose?). Three books