IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, VOL. 53, NO.

2, JUNE 2010

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Timothy D. Giles
Motives for Metaphor in Scientific and Technical Communication
Book Review
Reviewed by
TIMOTHY L. J. FERRIS, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE
Index TermsMetaphor, science writing, technical communication.

This short book addresses an interesting subject

in a well-developed, scholarly manner. Giles
addresses the metaphors place in scientific and
technical communication. More specifically, the
book addresses how metaphor contributes to
the development of scientific theory and to the
communication of science.
In his introduction, Giles argues that metaphor
is important in the communication of science
to the public because it enables connection of
the scientific content to the readers knowledge.
For example, he refers to the wave-particle dual
descriptions of light that were important in the
development of the physical theory. He repeats
Kuhns view that science is a social construction,
meaning that the formation and formulation of
scientific theory occur in a social situation mediated
by language. In particular, during the formation
phase of a theory, metaphor is important because
there is no direct language to express the ideas.
Giles is also interested in technical communication
pedagogy. The most common approach to teaching
metaphor is as an ornament to decorate the writing
rather than as a linguistic tool that is integral to
the communication of the subject matter. This
perspective is consistent with the common view
that scientific and technical communication should
be dispassionate and absolute and expressed in
plain language.
Chapter 1 begins by distinguishing the purpose of
metaphor in technical writing, in which it is used to
communicate, and in business, in which it is used
to persuade. However, modern textbooks of science

Manuscript received August 30, 2009; revised October 15, 2009.

Current version published May 21, 2010.
The reviewer is with the Defence and Systems Institute,
University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes 5095, Australia
(email: timothy.ferris@unisa.edu.au).
IEEE 10.1109/TPC.2010.2046093
Book publisher: Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing Company,
2008, 178 pp. with index and references.

0361-1434/$26.00 2010 IEEE

communication do not explore the nature and use

of metaphor. The major reference to metaphor in
textbooks concerns the risks of using metaphor in
international communication, where the problem
of understanding is compounded by the difference
of native language.
In Chapter 2, Giles reviews the technical
communication literature with a view to showing
the manner in which metaphor is currently used.
In the computer industry, traditional patterns of
understanding are easily disrupted; the computing
industry reformulated technical communication
patterns and introduced many metaphors to
describe computer technology, which, as the
industry progressed, themselves became accepted
language and the base of further metaphors. This is
a construction that Giles calls stacked metaphors.
Effective metaphors take on a strong position in the
imagination, resulting in the metaphor being moved
through various parts of speech to eventually
create a new word. When the new word has become
established, it is seen as the plain-language
expression of the idea, and recognition of the words
metaphoric origin is lost.
In Chapter 3, Giles reviews the theory of metaphor.
He looks back to Aristotle, who regarded the use
of metaphor as a mark of genius. This opinion is
linked to the fact that riddles normally rely on a
metaphoric twist: Solving a riddle demands and
demonstrates intellectual ability. A particularly
powerful capability of metaphor is that it allows a
person to name something that has not yet received
a name; referring to it through a metaphor provides
some elucidation of the properties of that which
has been named. In turn, this process of naming
through metaphor generates knowledge.
A metaphors quality of assisting in naming things
is important to the development of science because
scientific research continually confronts things
that are not yet explained. In the process of seeking
explanations of a phenomenon, scientists compare
it with something, articulated in a metaphor,

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, VOL. 53, NO. 2, JUNE 2010

which then becomes a basis for exploring the

characteristics of the current research subject.
This process enables the scientist to determine the
research subjects properties. Once the theory has
been developed and clarified, the metaphor may no
longer be required to express the theory.
However, metaphor presents a challenge. Although
the similarity between the things named using a
metaphor and the things normally denoted by the
name used in the metaphor is helpful, there is
also the possibility that the metaphor will lead to
misunderstanding. This difficulty is inherent in the
use of metaphor, and it requires care to ensure a
metaphor is interpreted reasonably.
In Chapter 4, Giles presents a case study of the
development of the theory of the atoms structure.
The history is well known, and Giles references
several authoritative histories of the development
of the theory of atomic structure. However, he
adds the fresh view of the metaphors place in the
development of the theory. The conclusions that
Giles draws from the history about the metaphors
place in theory development are clearly linked

to his theoretical statements made in the earlier

chapters of the book.
In Chapter 5, Giles provides a case study of
metaphor in natural language. In this study,
he says that it is difficult to remove metaphor
from scientific writing. Once a theory has been
developed, if the metaphor becomes the formal
name of the thing denoted, the usage ceases to be
metaphoric and becomes plain language.
The final, short chapter is titled Implications.
This chapter concerns applications of the work in
the rest of the book to technical communication
education. In particular, this chapter discusses
methods of teaching metaphor awareness as well
as the awareness of the nature and power of formal
definition.
In summary, this book is a well-written scholarly
work that develops the concept of metaphor as
a subject to be taught in technical and scientific
communication. The book develops the readers
understanding of the particular nature and role of
metaphor in technical communication and should
be useful as a reference book for educators.