Technical Communication (8th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: This book is better than what some reviewers write!
Review:

This book is written well and is a useful tool to use when writing everything from a resume and cover letter to a complete proposal. It also give instructions on how to make a web page and scripting in html. Although I am sure that this material is very similiar to that of the previous editions, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to write better.

I wish that I had not read the previous bad reviews and ordered this book in hardcover instead of a used softcover.

Rating:
Summary: Written by an expert in the marketing of textbooks!
Review: John Lannon was a successful author of a college writing and composition textbook. He then created various spinoffs so that his publisher could cover more markets: business writing, technical writing, and so on (for both college and high school).

So he's really not a current specialist in technical writing, and he's not employed as a technical writer. He's just an English instructor who has been using essentially the same basic materials in all his books for decades.

This text is a perfect example. It has very little to do with today's field of technical communications. There are many other textbooks that have more specific and up-to-date examples and guidelines for contemporary technical writers. Any book by Hackos, for example, runs circles around this one.

In any case, he and his publisher don't need your single-copy sale. They sell thousands of these books for coursewide use at many schools across the country for use in very elementary courses. They don't care about individual users.

So save your money and buy something else!

Rating:
Summary: What's new in this 9th Edtion?
Review: The answer is nothing. This 9th edition is practically the same as 8th. This author must be the greediest man I've ever seen. Over half of the colleges in US use this book for technical writing, and he's still charging people $80 for it. Hasn't he made enough money with the 1st edition already?