Category: Book Club

The STC-MGL fall virtual book club is just around the corner!

Join us on Thursday, December 10 at 7 p.m. for our discussion on Writing is Designing by Michael J. Metts and Andy Welfle. During this event, we’ll talk about the major concepts in the book, discuss how the topics relate to or affect technical communication, and what the ideas covered in the book mean for the future of our profession. It is sure to be a stimulating conversation.

We hope you will join us! Register for the virtual book club here.

About the Event

Who

Current STC and STC-MGL members

When

Thursday, December 10, 2020
7-8:30 p.m.

Where

Zoom

Cost

Free!

About the Book

From the Goodreads summary:
Without words, apps would be an unusable jumble of shapes and icons, while voice interfaces and chatbots wouldn’t even exist. Words make software human-centered, and require just as much thought as the branding and code. This book will show you how to give your users clarity, test your words, and collaborate with your team. You’ll see that writing is designing.

Our next virtual book club is just around the corner! We’ll be meeting on Thursday, May 21 from 7–8:30 p.m. in the book_club channel in Slack.
During this event, we will discuss Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. If you haven’t grabbed your copy of the book yet—there’s still time! Even if you don’t finish the book, you’re more than welcome to join in on the discussion. What better way to spend your quarantine than discussing grammar and punctuation with other tech comm professionals?

We hope you will join us!

When

Thursday, May 21
7–8:30 p.m. EST

Where

Book_club channel in Slack

Register Here!

Please register by 5:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday, May 20. We will send you instructions on how to join us.

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About the Book

You guessed it: this book is all about punctuation and grammar. In her book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Lynne Truss takes us on a journey to discuss the history of italics, hyphens, commas, apostrophes, and more. She uses humor and hyperbole to explain how vital accurate grammar and punctuation are to our understanding of information. Her philosophy is replete with comical examples, so even if you don’t find yourself a strict grammarian, you might get a laugh out of those who do.

About the Author

Throughout her career, Lynne Truss has been a journalist, author, broadcaster, editor, and more. Although she claims not to be a “grammarian,” she cares deeply about the state of the world’s grammatical literacy and continues to fight the good grammar fight. For more information, you can visit Lynne Truss’s website.

For our next STC-SM virtual book club, we will be reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, by Lynne Truss.

Truss is an ardent grammarian, and her book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, is all about how vital accurate grammar and punctuation are to our understanding of information. Her philosophy is replete with comical examples, so even if you don’t find yourself a strict grammarian, you might get a laugh out of those who do…and if you are disturbed that the Oxford (serial) comma is missing from the title, you are not alone. This book is sure to spark off much debate!

You can purchase this book online wherever books are sold.

Thank you to all of you who participated in the vote. We look forward to reading this book alongside you (virtually) over the next couple months.

Our discussion will take place on Thursday, May 21, at 7 p.m. in our Slack book_club channel. We’ll post registration details closer to the date of the event.

Happy reading!

Our next virtual book club discussion will take place on Thursday, May 21. If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to read more (and learn more in the process), this is a perfect opportunity for you!

For our book clubs, we choose books that are written by esteemed thinkers in the fields of writing, design, and communication. We take concepts covered in the book, discuss and analyze them, and then identify connections between the content and our own experiences. This is a great opportunity to learn something new about our profession, but also to discuss it with other professionals in the tech comm community. Continue reading “The Next Virtual Book Club is Coming Up in May!”

Mark your calendars! Our next virtual book club takes place on Thursday, November 7, from 7–9 p.m. Join us for an edifying discussion about Peter Morville’s book Intertwingled. Morville was the keynote speaker at the 2019 STC Summit in Denver, Colorado, and we are thrilled to take a deeper look at one of his recent books. During this discussion we’ll explore various points covered in the book as well as analyze how the topics influence technical communication of the past, present, and future. Continue reading “Book Club: Intertwingled”

Mark your calendars! Our next virtual book club takes place on Thursday, April 18, at 7 p.m. During this event, we will discuss Alan Alda’s book: If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating. This virtual book club event is open to anyone—whether or not you’re a member of STC or STC-SM—so even if you’re just interested in some edifying discussions, you’re welcome to join us! Continue reading “Virtual Book Club—April 2019”