The fi rst edition of this book came about because Regina Lundgren had always been
fascinated with communication. She started writing novels in the third grade. When she
was asked on her fi rst day at the University of Washington what she hoped to do with her
degree in scientifi c and technical communication, she replied, “I want to write environ-
mental impact statements.” When Patricia Clark hired her to work at the Pacifi c Northwest
National Laboratory to do just that, she was overjoyed.