A Favorite Book--Now Free Online

Greetings again. I’m glad to say that a book I recommend is now available for free online. Here’s the story.

As mentioned, this summer I’m teaching a science-editing course. One book for the course is Editing and Publication: A Training Manual, by Ian Montagnes. This book is easy to read, and it contains much advice that can help in editing one’s own and others’ work.

For a while, I’ve been hoping to add this book to the AuthorAID Resource Library. This book was intended mainly for people in developing countries, and it contains many examples from agricultural research. Thus, it is especially suitable for AuthorAID.

I had planned to ask the publishers of this book for permission to post a copy. However, when I did some searching, I found that the book is now available for free online. My thanks to the publishers (the International Rice Research Institute and the International Development Research Centre)!

A link to this book now appears in the AuthorAID Resource Library. So does a link to a companion book, titled Editing and Publication: A Handbook for Trainers.

This other book gives advice on planning and giving training courses on editing and related subjects. It also includes science-editing exercises that one can do oneself or assign to others.

Some parts of Editing and Publication: A Training Manual—for example, those on photography and printing—are out of date, because the technology has changed since the book appeared in 1991. Overall, however, the book remains an excellent resource. I recommend it to you.