Perhaps you’ve noticed that I have the occasional thought about scientific writing. I recently had the pleasure of expressing a bunch of those thoughts in a wide-ranging conversation with Daniel Shea, one of the hosts of the Scholarly Communication podcast series from the New Books Network. You can listen to the episode here.
The interview was spurred by the recent release of the second edition of The Scientist’s Guide to Writing, but our conversation wasn’t limited to that. You’ll hear Daniel and me talk about the history and social context of scientific writing, about teaching writing, about writing across disciplines, about the relationship of humour and beauty to effective rhetoric – and much more.
I have to admit that I’m not a big consumer of podcasts – I’d rather read than listen, I guess. Part of that is that I don’t have long commutes, frequent stints at the microscope or the lab bench, or any of the other circumstances that make audio an efficient way to pick up information. But that’s just me! If you’re into podcasts and want to hear a bit more about writing, why not let me keep you company while you drive to your field site, while you count flies or mix buffers, or even while you cook dinner. Here you go.
© Stephen Heard March 24, 2022