Technical Writing Books

Below is a list of books that we have either read or use as reference. We tried to include a few comments on each, so you’d be able to decide which were most important to you to start. Good luck in pursuing your technical writing endeavors. We’ve put an asterisk next to the books that we think can give you a basic foundation in tech writing.

*How to Write a Manual, Elizabeth Slatkin, Ten Speed Press, Berkley, CA, 1991. (available from www.alibris.com)

This is an inexpensive (about $9) paperback that gives you a good overall picture of how to write a manual. It covers a little bit of everything.

Technical Writing: Structure, Standards and Style, Robert Bly and Gary Blake.

This book has a lot of good general advice. One of the authors, Robert Bly, has written several other books about writing, being a freelance writer, and how to sell your services as an independent consultant. These other books may be of interest to you.

*The Elements of Business Writing, Gary Blake and Robert Bly, NY, NY, Collier, 1991.

As I typed this I realized that these are the same two authors as one of the books above. It gives lots of good, general advice about how to write better. It too is a relatively inexpensive paperback.

Writing to Learn, 1988, and *On Writing Well, 1990, William Zinsser, NY, NY, Harper.

These two books were recommended to me by another technical writer. They are about the craft of writing in general, but lots of what Zinsser has to say applies to technical writing. I found both in my local library.

The Careful Writer, Theodore M. Bernstein, NY, NY, Atheneum, 1965.

This book was also recommended by the same tech writer. It discusses a lot of terms, phrases, and other writing issues and how to handle them.

The Elements of Style, William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, 1979 (originally published in 1959), Macmillian Publishing, NY, NY.

This is a good reference book that is often cited by authors of books about writing. It is a small paperback that is inexpensive.

The Chicago Manual of Style, Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, 1993.

This oft-cited book is very useful when you need a reference on punctuation, capitalization, quotations, abbreviations, equations, etc. It is very useful and well worth the $40 if you are going to do a lot of technical writing.

The Gregg Reference Manual, NY, NY, Glencoe Division, 1992.

This is also a useful reference book for many of the same things as listed above for the Chicago Style Manual (that’s how most people refer to it). At about $22 in paperback, it may be a better place to start. I have noticed that this book and the Chicago Style Manual don’t always agree on things but you’ll find that everywhere.

*Designing and Writing Online Documentation, William K. Horton, John Wiley & Sons, NY, NY, 1990.

This is a good book if you plan to do any online documentation. This is the edition I have, but a newer edition came out in the last year or two. You may not find it in your library. I ordered it from a bookstore.

Illustrating Computer Documentation, William K. Horton, John Wiley & Sons, NY, NY, 1991.

Another Horton book that I have. It has lots of ideas and information about how to present information in documentation.

Writing Better Computer User Documentation, R. John Brockman, John Wiley & Sons, NY,NY.

This book is often cited in STC literature and in other books. The second part of the book, in particular, gives lots of good advice about writing both printed and online computer manuals.

Of course, you always need a good dictionary and thesaurus too.