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Subject:Re: What's on your TC bookshelf? From:"Gary S. Callison" <huey -at- interaccess -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Wed, 10 Sep 2003 17:34:05 -0500 (CDT)
After starting my first 'pure' technical writer job, about a year and a
half ago, I combed the techwr-l archives to find out what, if anything, I
*needed* to have on my desk. So, apart from reference material that are
either general (dictionaries, style guides) or specific (software
packages, protocols) the tech writing books I keep handy are:
- Managing Your Documentation Projects, JoAnn T. Hackos, John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0471590991
Everybody seems to have one of these, and rightfully so. Great book.
- Starting a Documentation Group: A Hands-On Guide, Peter J. Hartman,
Clear Point Consultants Press; ISBN: 0967417902; (October 1999)
Also neat.
- Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry, Sun Technical
Publications, Prentice Hall PTR; ISBN: 0134553470; 1st edition (January
15, 1996)
Not terribly useful for me day-to-day, but I'm glad I have it.
- Software Requirements, Karl E. Wiegers, Microsoft Press; ISBN:
0735606315; (September 1999)
- International Standard ISO/IEC 12207:1995 Software Life Cycle Processes
- Exploring Requirements : Quality Before Design, Donald C. Gause, Gerald
M. Weinberg, Dorset House; ISBN: 0932633137; (September 1989)
If you write software requirements, you probably ought to read all three
of these. The programmers will thank you later.
- The User Manual Manual : How to Research, Write, Test, Edit
& Produce a Software Manual, Michael Bremer, Untechnical Press,
ISBN 0966994914
This is cutesy. It's an interesting read, and if you see one on the sale
table, you might want to pick it up, but from the perspective of someone
who has already written a bunch of user manuals, I didn't find it
terribly useful.
The only other thing I look at when I get really lost is the five-gallon
fishtank with a half-dozen male guppies and a chinese algae eater in it.
