Reading for Writing

Writing skills are badly needed in the professional world, no matter in the industry or academia. I have seen many people (mostly international students, including myself) struggling with their writing skills. I don't believe there is any shortcut but constant and regular writing practice to improve writing skills. In addition, I think reading is a good compliment to writing practice. Here I'm putting together a list of recommended books.

The first two are on general writing (not necessarily scientific writing):

• On Writing Well by William Zinsser
• The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White

Then here are two books for scientific writing:

• Scientific Writing and Communication: Papers, Proposals, and Presentations by  Angelika Hofmann
• Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded by Joshua Schimel 

I also got a list of classic novels from my colleague Jason Wilson (co-author of my TSG2014 paper):

• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
• Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
• Ulysses by James Joyce
• Hamlet by Shakespeare 
• 1984 by George Orwell
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
• The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Here I'm trying not to recommend a list of scientific papers in energy forecasting. I would rather suggest that we focus on the analytical and technical aspects of those papers.

Happy reading!