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Preparing scientific illustrations. A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications (Second Edition)
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Preparing Scientific Illustrations. A Guide to Better Posters, Presentations, and Publications (Second Edition) M a r y H e l e n Briscoe. p p 204. Springer, N e w Y o r k . 1996. $29.95 I S B N 0-387-94581-4 This book arrived for review the same day I was asked to conduct a workshop for research students on designing illustrations for posters and slides. Therefore I was able to compare the contents of the book with my intended agenda for the workshop. The match was very close. I have a copy of the first edition, which had the title A Researcher's Guide to Sc&ntific and Medical Illustrations. It had a dull green cover, with simple black lettering and a stylized diagram that had no apparent connection with the contents. In contrast, the second edition has a shorter main title and the cover is a vivid royal blue, with multicoloured print and illustrations of a chromosome, DNA, and a graph. The changes indicate that the author has followed her own advice, that is, to simplify the words and make the book visually attractive. The Table of Contents also shows improvements. The chapters are clearly named in bold type; are reduced in number from 15 to 13, and there are more sub-headings to reflect changes in organization. Whereas the first edition began with a wordy essay on communication, the second edition starts immediately with an example of how a poor illustration, which obscures the message, can be transformed into a clear display of information. This is followed by a discussion of the power of visual communication with illustrations and its supremacy over the unillustrated paragraph of words. The author lists the common attitudinal sins of scientific illustrating: • • • •
nobody is going to understand, see how much I know, I am too busy with important work to take pains with this, it's up to you to figure this out.
As a frequent victim of such attitudes among my fellow scientists, I appreciated the early surfacing of these sins. I hope that the students who read this book will avoid them. The author follows the sin list with the characteristics of good illustrations: • address the viewer appropriately • the level of complexity or simplification should be designed for the intended audience • a good illustration supports, enhances and emphasizes the words • it is designed for the intended medium--paper, slide or poster • it is of a legible size, has concise and consistent labels, and uses clear forms and symbols • a good illustration has visual impact and interests and attracts the viewer. In my workshop I compress these characteristics into the acronym VUE, for Visibility, Understanding, and Emphasis. An illustration (print, slide or poster) is useless if it cannot be read. If it is readable, it must be understood. If it is readable and understood, it must make an impression by its visual emphasis, such as colour, pictures, or statements. And these are the messages in Briscoe's book. An example of a poster cell is presented in large bold type and in simple short paragraphs with the comment Text o f this size may come as a shock to those who persist in thinking o f posters as enlarged papers. Most posters that you will see in meetings have text that is too small and too complex. Alas, this comment is all too true. Briscoe adds It takes intelligence, even brilliance, to condense and focus information into a clear, simple presentation that will be
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 24(4) 1996
read and remembered. Ignorance and arrogance are shown in a crowded, complicated, hard-to-read poster. The essence of an interesting visual is usually a picture. Messages delivered in words alone can be tedious. Even simple illustrations can be attractive and contribute to the message. Think of the many lectures you attended in which the slides were mainly, if not entirely, paragraphs projected on the screen. Think of the myriad posters consisting of dreary text and a few overworked tables and graphs. The tables are usually full of illegible numbers and the graphs are complex and tiny. Briscoe uses examples drawn from biochemistry and other medical sciences to support her advice to include good illustrations in any scientific report. You will see gels, nucleotide sequences, and mitochondrial functions illustrated in appropriate and clear forms. Each illustration is designed to present the information to best advantage. Should a graph be horizontal, square, or vertical? Why? How is genetic information best represented? What size of letters should be used for titles, labels and other information? How readable is a poster to the bifocals generation? Briscoe makes her advice seem so logical that its appears to be applied common sense. However, there are rules to follow which are not intuitive, but the result of much experience. The bulk of the book contains specific information for preparing illustrations for publications, for slides and overheads and for posters. Research students should read these chapters and use them as guides. Too often students ape their mentors in preparing visual material and so perpetuate bad habits. The book's penultimate chapters are on Using a Computer and Drawing by Hand. I suspect that few, if any, scientists will actually draw by hand, but most readers will benefit from the information on the computer. The book ends, as it began, with the notion that good illustrations are vital to scientific communication and that the necessary skills are easy to acquire. I heartily recommend this book to all who work in science. Even we elderly can profit from the sage advice it contains. M Saffran
Gene Expression in Recombinant Microorganisms Bioprocess Technology Series Volume 22 E d i t e d by A Smith. pp 432. M a r c e l D e k k e r , N e w York. 1995. $175 I S B N 0-8247-9543-1 There has been a remarkable growth in the development of recombinant D N A technology. The practical uses of recombinant methods are applicable to numerous biological disciplines including biopharmaceuticals, forensic biology, evolution and clinical medicine. The technology has, for instance, been successfully used to produce human insulin and interferon, and in the early diagnosis of disease. Gene therapy for several human disorders will soon be a reality. This book is authored by scientists with international reputations. Each chapter gives a specialist account of gene expression in one of the important classes of microorganisms used to express both homologous and heterologous genes, documents the industrial and commercial exploits of the system, and speculates on future prospects and developments. The organisms dealt with are E coli, B subtilis, S cereviseae, Aspergillus and Streptomyces. There is also a chapter on safety and regulatory aspects of the technology. This book will be very useful to specialists and students in biotechnology, biochemistry, applied and industrial microbiology, molecular and cell biology, bacteriology, microbial genetics and fermentation technology. C V Anand and Usha Anand
Preparing Scientific Illustrations. A Guide to Better Posters, Presentations, and Publications (Second Edition) M a r y H e l e n Briscoe. p p 204. Springer, N e w Y o r k . 1996. $29.95 I S B N 0-387-94581-4 This book arrived for review the same day I was asked to conduct a workshop for research students on designing illustrations for posters and slides. Therefore I was able to compare the contents of the book with my intended agenda for the workshop. The match was very close. I have a copy of the first edition, which had the title A Researcher's Guide to Sc&ntific and Medical Illustrations. It had a dull green cover, with simple black lettering and a stylized diagram that had no apparent connection with the contents. In contrast, the second edition has a shorter main title and the cover is a vivid royal blue, with multicoloured print and illustrations of a chromosome, DNA, and a graph. The changes indicate that the author has followed her own advice, that is, to simplify the words and make the book visually attractive. The Table of Contents also shows improvements. The chapters are clearly named in bold type; are reduced in number from 15 to 13, and there are more sub-headings to reflect changes in organization. Whereas the first edition began with a wordy essay on communication, the second edition starts immediately with an example of how a poor illustration, which obscures the message, can be transformed into a clear display of information. This is followed by a discussion of the power of visual communication with illustrations and its supremacy over the unillustrated paragraph of words. The author lists the common attitudinal sins of scientific illustrating: • • • •
nobody is going to understand, see how much I know, I am too busy with important work to take pains with this, it's up to you to figure this out.
As a frequent victim of such attitudes among my fellow scientists, I appreciated the early surfacing of these sins. I hope that the students who read this book will avoid them. The author follows the sin list with the characteristics of good illustrations: • address the viewer appropriately • the level of complexity or simplification should be designed for the intended audience • a good illustration supports, enhances and emphasizes the words • it is designed for the intended medium--paper, slide or poster • it is of a legible size, has concise and consistent labels, and uses clear forms and symbols • a good illustration has visual impact and interests and attracts the viewer. In my workshop I compress these characteristics into the acronym VUE, for Visibility, Understanding, and Emphasis. An illustration (print, slide or poster) is useless if it cannot be read. If it is readable, it must be understood. If it is readable and understood, it must make an impression by its visual emphasis, such as colour, pictures, or statements. And these are the messages in Briscoe's book. An example of a poster cell is presented in large bold type and in simple short paragraphs with the comment Text o f this size may come as a shock to those who persist in thinking o f posters as enlarged papers. Most posters that you will see in meetings have text that is too small and too complex. Alas, this comment is all too true. Briscoe adds It takes intelligence, even brilliance, to condense and focus information into a clear, simple presentation that will be
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 24(4) 1996
read and remembered. Ignorance and arrogance are shown in a crowded, complicated, hard-to-read poster. The essence of an interesting visual is usually a picture. Messages delivered in words alone can be tedious. Even simple illustrations can be attractive and contribute to the message. Think of the many lectures you attended in which the slides were mainly, if not entirely, paragraphs projected on the screen. Think of the myriad posters consisting of dreary text and a few overworked tables and graphs. The tables are usually full of illegible numbers and the graphs are complex and tiny. Briscoe uses examples drawn from biochemistry and other medical sciences to support her advice to include good illustrations in any scientific report. You will see gels, nucleotide sequences, and mitochondrial functions illustrated in appropriate and clear forms. Each illustration is designed to present the information to best advantage. Should a graph be horizontal, square, or vertical? Why? How is genetic information best represented? What size of letters should be used for titles, labels and other information? How readable is a poster to the bifocals generation? Briscoe makes her advice seem so logical that its appears to be applied common sense. However, there are rules to follow which are not intuitive, but the result of much experience. The bulk of the book contains specific information for preparing illustrations for publications, for slides and overheads and for posters. Research students should read these chapters and use them as guides. Too often students ape their mentors in preparing visual material and so perpetuate bad habits. The book's penultimate chapters are on Using a Computer and Drawing by Hand. I suspect that few, if any, scientists will actually draw by hand, but most readers will benefit from the information on the computer. The book ends, as it began, with the notion that good illustrations are vital to scientific communication and that the necessary skills are easy to acquire. I heartily recommend this book to all who work in science. Even we elderly can profit from the sage advice it contains. M Saffran
Gene Expression in Recombinant Microorganisms Bioprocess Technology Series Volume 22 E d i t e d by A Smith. pp 432. M a r c e l D e k k e r , N e w York. 1995. $175 I S B N 0-8247-9543-1 There has been a remarkable growth in the development of recombinant D N A technology. The practical uses of recombinant methods are applicable to numerous biological disciplines including biopharmaceuticals, forensic biology, evolution and clinical medicine. The technology has, for instance, been successfully used to produce human insulin and interferon, and in the early diagnosis of disease. Gene therapy for several human disorders will soon be a reality. This book is authored by scientists with international reputations. Each chapter gives a specialist account of gene expression in one of the important classes of microorganisms used to express both homologous and heterologous genes, documents the industrial and commercial exploits of the system, and speculates on future prospects and developments. The organisms dealt with are E coli, B subtilis, S cereviseae, Aspergillus and Streptomyces. There is also a chapter on safety and regulatory aspects of the technology. This book will be very useful to specialists and students in biotechnology, biochemistry, applied and industrial microbiology, molecular and cell biology, bacteriology, microbial genetics and fermentation technology. C V Anand and Usha Anand