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The Science of Communicating Science: The Ultimate Guide
Are you wishing you knew how to better communicate science, without having to read several hundred academic papers and books on the topic? Luckily Dr Craig Cormick has done this for you! This highly readable and entertaining book distills best practice research on science communication into accessible chapters, supported by case studies and examples. With practical advice on everything from messages and metaphors to metrics and ethics, you will learn what the public think about science and why, and how to shape scientific research into a story that will influence beliefs, behaviors and policies.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
Published November 6, 2019
9 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Craig Cormick
48books24followersCraig Cormick in an Australian science communicator and author. He was born in Wollongong in 1961, and is known for his creative writing and social research into public attitudes towards new technologies. He has lived mainly in Canberra, but has also in Iceland (1980�81) and Finland (1984�85). He has published 15 books of fiction and non-fiction, and numerous articles in refereed journals. He has been active in the Canberra writing community, teaching and editing, was Chair of the ACT Writers Centre from 2003 to 2008 and in 2006 was Writer in Residence at the University of Science in Penang, Malaysia.
Cormick's creative writing has appeared in most of Australia's literary journals including Southerly, Westerly, Island, Meanjin, The Phoenix Review, Overland, Scarp, 4W, Redoubt, Block, as well as in overseas publications including Silverfish New Writing (Malaysia) and Foreign Literature No 6 (China). He has previously been an editor of the radical arts magazine Blast, and his writing awards include the ACT Book of the Year Award in 1999 and the Queensland Premier's Literary Award in 2006. As a science communicator he has represented the Australian Government at many international science forums including APEC and OECD conferences, presenting on issues relating to public concerns about new technologies.
Cormick's creative writing has appeared in most of Australia's literary journals including Southerly, Westerly, Island, Meanjin, The Phoenix Review, Overland, Scarp, 4W, Redoubt, Block, as well as in overseas publications including Silverfish New Writing (Malaysia) and Foreign Literature No 6 (China). He has previously been an editor of the radical arts magazine Blast, and his writing awards include the ACT Book of the Year Award in 1999 and the Queensland Premier's Literary Award in 2006. As a science communicator he has represented the Australian Government at many international science forums including APEC and OECD conferences, presenting on issues relating to public concerns about new technologies.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 11, 2019
I'm probably not the target auditory since it's all largely 101. Than again, 101 is an important thing for science.
May 16, 2022
This is a poorly-written, ill-researched, and lackluster work. I was forced to purchase it for a course in my first year of graduate school. The author is, from what I understand, not a scientist, and has seemingly minimal knowledge of the history of science communication.
The book, written as a guide for scientists, tells you to format your speech in ___ and ___ but ____ therefore statements, also known as ABT statements. While this is not so offensive at first, many who read this book believe that the main statement, or perhaps even every statement, should be an ABT statement; this is little more than a formulaic, repulsive method of speech eliminating any art or beauty to the process itself.
As briefly mentioned, the author gives several historical anecdotes to scientists and their communication effectiveness (or lack thereof). Many of these... have simplifications, and, debatably, errors. For instance, my least favorite is found on pp. 47-48, about Darwin's work On the Origin of Species. Now, Cormick seems to believe that the primary reason that Darwin's work on evolution won out over others, such as one by Alfred Wallace, was based on Darwin's 'narrative score' being better (ie - he wrote a better story/had a better narrative). Cormick has completely omitted discussion of T.H. Huxley, aka 'Darwin's Bulldog'. Darwin had a crowd of attention, boosted by Huxley's hounding, and that, not his narrative, is said to have caused his fame and the prominence of Darwin as the 'Father of Evolution'. This is also the opinion of such organizations such as the BBC ()
The book, written as a guide for scientists, tells you to format your speech in ___ and ___ but ____ therefore statements, also known as ABT statements. While this is not so offensive at first, many who read this book believe that the main statement, or perhaps even every statement, should be an ABT statement; this is little more than a formulaic, repulsive method of speech eliminating any art or beauty to the process itself.
As briefly mentioned, the author gives several historical anecdotes to scientists and their communication effectiveness (or lack thereof). Many of these... have simplifications, and, debatably, errors. For instance, my least favorite is found on pp. 47-48, about Darwin's work On the Origin of Species. Now, Cormick seems to believe that the primary reason that Darwin's work on evolution won out over others, such as one by Alfred Wallace, was based on Darwin's 'narrative score' being better (ie - he wrote a better story/had a better narrative). Cormick has completely omitted discussion of T.H. Huxley, aka 'Darwin's Bulldog'. Darwin had a crowd of attention, boosted by Huxley's hounding, and that, not his narrative, is said to have caused his fame and the prominence of Darwin as the 'Father of Evolution'. This is also the opinion of such organizations such as the BBC ()
April 24, 2022
Y’all know I love science! But I want to communicate it better to others and be a better educator. This book was so fun and informational! It not only contained tips, tricks, and research citations, it also included references to Star Wars, Star Trek, and Monty Python. A completely entertaining, sarcastic, and very understandable look at how to talk science with non-scientists (and sometimes other scientists).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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