Review Summaries Source Rating Date Reviewer Nature . William Shea Science . Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. Recording, conveying, transmitting, and translating science, language is often seen only as background, a necessary but inconsequential part of science. In the six essays that form this book Scott L. Montgomery shows that there is considerably more to it, and that an awareness of the role of language can help shed a useful light on science, scientific discourse, and the scientific enterprise.
Scientific language is often a peculiar one.
It tends to be impersonal, implying objectivity. Montgomery begins with a useful overview of scientific language in his first chapter. From there he moves on to providing a history of scientific discourse, considering how scientific language evolved, and why it evolved in the way it did. The evolution Montgomery traces is an interesting one, influenced by a variety of factors. Richly metaphorical language was still employed by numerous authors, but inexorably the movement has been towards the present ideal.