Am I Making Myself Clear?: A Scientist's Guide to Talking to the Public

Am I Making Myself Clear?: A Scientist's Guide to Talking to the Public
by Cornelia Dean

Am I Making Myself Clear?: A Scientist's Guide to Talking to the Public
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Book Summary Information

Author: Cornelia Dean
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-10-30
ISBN: 0674036352
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Harvard University Press

Book Reviews of Am I Making Myself Clear?: A Scientist's Guide to Talking to the Public

Book Review: Hello scientists, help is on the way....
Summary: 5 Stars

Cornelia Dean, as the former editor of the science section of the New York Times, is one of this country's leading science educators. In this useful little volume, she puts down everything she believes scientists ought know when they attempt to bridge the gap between the academy and the mass media.

We're talking here about two vastly different cultures and it's been my experience that many scientists are surprisingly ill-equipped to make the transition. The problem is in part the culture of the academy and it is also built into the way scientists are trained to describe what they do. Dean wants to give them a hand. She'd like to teach them how to pitch their ideas in a way that non-scientists will respond to; she wants to show them how to tell their remarkable stories, and to actually have people listen. And her main point, one often lost in to those who've been trained in the jungle of university writing: MAKE YOURSELF CLEAR!


Now, some truth in packaging: I've worked for Cory Dean at Science Times. But even if I didn't know and admire her, I'd still think she's performed an act of citizenship by penning this volume. Every American needs greater science literacy to understand the world we all share--which means that scientists had better learn how to communicate with the citizens who fund their work.

I teach a course in popular journalism for science graduate students at Columbia University and I find this book so valuable that I've added it to my syllabus.

Claudia Dreifus
Adjunct Associate Professor of International Relations and Media
Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs


Summary of Am I Making Myself Clear?: A Scientist's Guide to Talking to the Public

What we don?t know can hurt us?and does so every day. Climate change, health care policy, weapons of mass destruction, an aging infrastructure, stem cell research, endangered species, space exploration?all affect our lives as citizens and human beings in practical and profound ways. But unless we understand the science behind these issues, we cannot make reasonable decisions?and worse, we are susceptible to propaganda cloaked in scientific rhetoric.

To convey the facts, this book suggests, scientists must take a more active role in making their work accessible to the media, and thus to the public. In Am I Making Myself Clear? Cornelia Dean, a distinguished science editor and reporter, urges scientists to overcome their institutional reticence and let their voices be heard beyond the forum of scholarly publication. By offering useful hints for improving their interactions with policymakers, the public, and her fellow journalists, Dean aims to change the attitude of scientists who scorn the mass media as an arena where important work is too often misrepresented or hyped. Even more important, she seeks to convince them of the value and urgency of communicating to the public.

Am I Making Myself Clear? shows scientists how to speak to the public, handle the media, and describe their work to a lay audience on paper, online, and over the airwaves. It is a book that will improve the tone and content of debate over critical issues and will serve the interests of science and society.

(20090914)

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