Style guide for academic writing

There are many – very many – styles in academia. At times, it seems every journal has their own style, which differs just a little from others; seemingly with the intent to frustrate a submitting author (or to act as a last-ditch attempt to stop those who...

Better writing by large and small cuts

Giants in the field of how to write well recommend brutal editing of ones own text; often said as: “murder your darlings”. The advice is sound. A rule of thumb may be that one should have half the words left of the original draft. Some key points: Cut any...

Sensemaking in Organizations: Karl Weick

A book I am intending to read; Sensemaking in Organizations by Karl Weick. However, until I do, I came accross a nice summary of the concept here: Sensemaking in Organizations: Reflections on Karl Weick and Social Theory by Laura A. McNamara, Sandia National...

One of the biggest cases of academic fraud: Diederik Stapel

Reading about Diederik Stapel reminds me of the quote from Walter Scott: “Oh, What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”. To list the full extent of his fraud, (including advising 20 Phd’s, many of whom used data he had faked),...

Superforecasting – The art and science of prediction

A great new book by Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner, based on a long running experiment where masses of people have made predictions on a wide variety of topics. They have analyzed the data and found some traits common to those who consistently make good predictions,...

The time paradox

How we see time, the future, the past and present dictate how we live and see the world. In this book Philip Zimbardo puts it all in perspective. Do also see the books website at: http://www.thetimeparadox.com/   For a brief, but informative introduction, look at...