Stand up, Speak out - The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking
The book covered many of the essential elements of a public speaking textbook. It has a thorough overview of ethics and public speaking, communication apprehension, organizing/outlining, informative speaking, visuals aids, persuasive speaking and the relavnce/importance of public speaking throughout. One foundational aspect of public speaking was missing in this book. In my review I noticed that there was little reference to the classical roots of public speaking, rhetoric and the canons of rhetoric. There was some mention of ethos, pathos and logos but these were minimal. Also the section on credibility was limited. I found the chapter on researching to be on the long side. I understand this is an important part of a speech however most public speaking classes have some sort of writing prerequisite which covers rearching themes. The part on attention getters could include more strategies.
There are many mentions of relevant communication theories which many books don't cover. The myths about communication apprehension I found to be accurate and overall the book covers many of the things I cover in my classes. I found the ethics pyramid to be a nice touch. The part on researching accurately explained how there is much more than just google as well as some of the limitations of such searches. The coverage of communication beyond public speaking was great too. Since there was little to no mention about rhetoric, I find that as a big inaccuracy since rhetoric is the foundation to this area of study.
The coverage on visual aids was very up-to-date as well as examples throughout. Some of the examples could be seen as too current and may be obsolete in a few years but periodic updating should allievate any of these concerns. I like the coverage on technological difficulties because that would always be relevant.
This book was very easy to follow and understand. Any jargon from the discipline was explained and didn't assume the student would know. Some typos here and there. I like the inclusion of theories especially theories of persuasion (ELM).
Yes, but from a very communication science basis. I would have liked to see more from rhetoric.
Yes, but I would have to reorganize it according to how I present the information in my class.
I liked how the content of a speech came before delivery but when it got to organization it was disorganized. The sections on organization seemed disorganized and jumped around a lot and could come across as confusing. I would like to see more coherence to the sections on organization. I might have to switch things around if I were to use this book. The part about Informative Speeches could have been presented earlier.
I don't know if there is another was to view the book other than pdf but I had trouble accessing the tables/figures. Also, there is no index nor table of contents in the pdf version. I know you have to access the TOC through another site but all versions of the text should have this.
Some typos. No grammatical errors noticed.
It came across to me as mostly culturally void. Most of the text read as if there was no reference to culture. There were a few examples here and there but I would have liked to see more. Some books I've reviewed have chapters dedicated to culture and how to reach your diverse audience members. It would be fine to mention cultural specifics from diverse backgrounds.
Overall, I liked this book and see myself as potentially adopting it. I liked how it had an extensive coverage of the basics of public speaking and relates many themes/ concepts back to the foundational ideas (i.e., audience analysis). There is also coverage of many things I don't see in many public speaking texts such as, dialogic theory, NCA Credo for Ethical Communication, free speech, myth about communication apprehension, oral and written style of communication, listening, tips on using notecards, using animals as visual aids (I've been asked this), public speaking pyramid and communication theories. There was, however, little to no mention about rhetoric nor credibility (I would have to supplement this information). I liked how the author included personal examples (nervousness about giving a speech). Conclusion, I would consider using this text if a few tweaks were made.