Websites, books and more
Learn more tricks for clarifying complex concepts with metaphor.
Digital Analogies
In this short-lived blog, IBM engineer Frank Yeh attempted to help people understand computers through metaphor. He stumbles after his first post comparing access control to a bouncer. But the idea behind this blog is sound. How could you use metaphor, perhaps in a blog or series of articles, to explain your industry’s technical terms?
Best American Science Writing
See how science writers use analogy to make the mysteries of the universe easier to understand. Check out one of the best, “My Bionic Quest for Bolero,” online.
Gawande.com
Atul Gawande is a surgeon, writer and public health researcher. See how he brings science to life with analogies in writing that’s earned two National Magazine Awards and a MacArthur Award.
National Association of Science Writers
Members of this association must use analogies to make sense of our complex world.
Science Journalism awards
Science writing is tough. To translate scientific ideas for a lay audience requires the most rigorous, creative writing. Here you can study the writing other science writers admire most.
The Seekers
Amy Ellis Nutt, of The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger, won the 2003 American Society of Newspaper Editors award for non-deadline writing for this series. It explores research into five scientific topics that still leave us baffled. Her editor Jim Willse told that her series “will rise and fall on your ability to make analogies.”
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