Technical Communication

First I will say that this in no way reflects upon the exemplary service or low price of the provider of this book, Now that I have prefaced this review by stating that the company that provided me the book gave me 5 star service... the book itself is certainly not worth full price. My first impression of the book is that even among textbooks which are horribly overpriced this shines as an example of why some people who shouldn't be writing in the first place write textbooks regardless of their lack of talents. It hearkens to the old adage regarding those who can't do, teach. Apparently those who can neither do or teach write books about it. A perfect example is the chapter in which the exercises are to add words to "enhance coherence" in an already coherent sentence... or put another way to specify something that a normal person naturally infers from the provided sentences, additionally the author seems to muddle certain concepts related to issues such as clear and coherent. The word coherent includes clarity as a portion of its definition, in fact if a paragraph lacks clarity it is almost certain to lack coherence. I cannot help but believe there had to be a better book on the market that a teacher could use for this subject. Another point that I find lacking is that typically in English, a student is taught to use "economy of words", this text; however, seems to shun that advice and works under the premise that in technical writing you must expect every reader to be a dullard who is unable to connect two sentences into a common thread.However, I will say that this book can cure insomnia, so it is not without some measure of worth if you have sleepless nights. Overall I would say that without appendices it should be a 400 page book or less, yet the writer used 600+ pages anyway.

If you buy this book as a Kindle e-version, be aware that it is not available on all devices! I cannot access it from my Android smartphone (which is runs on Jelly Bean) nor from the Kindle Cloud Reader on a computer browser! You can only access this on a Kindle Device, a tablet, or a computer that has the Kindle App downloaded and installed. I do not have admin access on my work computer to install Kindle for PC. When I realized I couldn't access this book from my Kindle Android App, I figured I'd just read it on the web with the Cloud Reader, but when I click on it to view it or download it, I get a message saying that it is not available on Kindle Cloud Reader.Technically, there is a small line at the top of this page that says "only available on certain devices" but I was VERY frustrated to discover that the Kindle app for Android phones is not one of them!update: I just learned by calling Amazon that the restriction is at the publisher level. Amazon offered me a refund on my Kindle rental and a paperback rental for $28 for the rest of the semester. So, the inconvenience earlier described still exists, but Amazon helped ameliorate the situation so I don't have to deal with it anymore. I can deal with a paperback textbook if it means I can actually read it anywhere like I thought I'd be able to with the Kindle version.

This book was not imperative for my class and I thusly ended up not using it. It's not the book's fault, so I'll just leave four stars.

A required book for a technical writing course I took, Technical Communication by Mike Markel is a surprisingly good reference. The examples are rich in detail allowing you to emulate the good format using your own information. Both major writing papers due in the course had equivalents found in the book, providing constant guidance for the structure and content needed to create a professional product. The exercises are mostly trivial in difficulty, with a few of them required an absurd amount of writing for such a short question. A good resource to have if you're learning technical writing.

I rented this book for a class but I liked it enough to actually buy it in the end. This is a great reference for "generic" technical writing like example resumes, cover letters, memos etc. The writing is concise and they have great examples. It doesn't help that much with specific technical writing (ie writing a requirements document for new software) but there are other books for more specific technical writing needs.

Purchased for technical writing course and we didn’t use it all. I read it on my own to aid in with writing technical memos and resumes. Great information regarding those two.

Book arrived within the time I initially requested. The book is good for those who would like to know how to improve the websites, grammar, what to do or include when writing important documentation in the workplace.

I mostly just got this textbook because it was required for my tech writing class. It does, however, make pretty valid points. I think it's probably impossible to write an English textbook without including some common sense stuff that most readers already know. Overall, I recommend it for reading or as a reference.