25th October 2010, 09:16 PM
Has anyone read 'Writing Archaeology" by Brian Fagan? I've been meaning to get a copy but keep forgetting. Is it any good? Has it made it onto University reading lists?
My own experience would suggest contract writing provides a great training, you get used to writing competent text fast, and how to structure and order the points you are making. That may have been a lucky chance for me though because one of the longer projects I was on used internal and external editors extensively and that provided a real learning experience.
As for good recent books...I thought After the Ice was great but could have done without the time travelling Lubbock myself. I think it might have been a bit long for a general audience but if he breaks that up into separate books at some point... I bet the parts on the near east and europe could combine into a very popular book for instance, and one on the new word would possibly sell well too. Cunliffe's 'Between the oceans' was pretty damn good too, in terms of writing style and archaeological content, and his one on Pytheas the Greek is a little gem of a book. Tempus as mentioned by Gwyl have a decent range of books, but you're never sure what you're going to get with one of theirs. Obviously I'm happy to get something hard core and academic as much as I am to get an easy reading general introduction to something I know fek all about. It might be handy if they split the range into two imprints though...
My own experience would suggest contract writing provides a great training, you get used to writing competent text fast, and how to structure and order the points you are making. That may have been a lucky chance for me though because one of the longer projects I was on used internal and external editors extensively and that provided a real learning experience.
As for good recent books...I thought After the Ice was great but could have done without the time travelling Lubbock myself. I think it might have been a bit long for a general audience but if he breaks that up into separate books at some point... I bet the parts on the near east and europe could combine into a very popular book for instance, and one on the new word would possibly sell well too. Cunliffe's 'Between the oceans' was pretty damn good too, in terms of writing style and archaeological content, and his one on Pytheas the Greek is a little gem of a book. Tempus as mentioned by Gwyl have a decent range of books, but you're never sure what you're going to get with one of theirs. Obviously I'm happy to get something hard core and academic as much as I am to get an easy reading general introduction to something I know fek all about. It might be handy if they split the range into two imprints though...