Grammaticus · the book of the guide
A practical, good-humored guide to writing that people can actually follow, drawn from more than three decades as a technical writer at Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon, and Disney.
Foreword by Robert Ross ยท Paperback & eBook
About the book
Ew! How to Fix Terrible Technical Writing gathers the best of Grammaticus, the free guide that has lived at this address for years, into a single published book. It collects the highlights: the rules, habits, and fixes that most often turn terrible technical writing into something clear.
Over more than three decades, David Baldwin wrote and edited for Boeing, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Amazon, and the Walt Disney Company, retiring as a senior technical writer in Disney's global technology division. This book distills that experience into advice for anyone who has ever winced at a manual, a spec, or an email. It comes down to the same thing his poetry is about: precision, clarity, and respect for the reader.
Free to read
The book gathers the highlights. The full Grammaticus guide remains free to read, one page per topic, the same advice David used for years to help engineers write clearly.
Keep a copy
Everything on this site is also collected in the free Grammaticus eBook. Download the PDF, bookmark it, and keep it for reference.
This site will not stay up forever. If you'd like your own copy, download the PDF below or write to David at davebaldwin37@gmail.com and he'll send you the file.
The same care for precision and clarity that runs through Grammaticus shapes his poetry. His newest collection, Wheel of Water, and his other books live at wordtreasure.com.