Philip Yaffe

How to Turn an Agnostic into a Believer

Dear Reader, I am a devout agnostic. I have been carrying on an electronic conversation with a devout Christian, in fact an evangelist, for about two years. It was not my intention to challenge her faith, but rather to seek answers to questions that un... Read >

How spelling reform would promote good writing

by Philip Yaffe I know that what I am about to say may seem to be somewhat off the wall. However, the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that a major reason most people write so poorly is the chaotic state of English spelling. It see... Read >

Resurrecting the Bullet Point: The Return of an Old and Valued Friend

By Philip Yaffe I have recently been reading and hearing comments that bullet points for slide presentations are dead, as evidenced by the rapidly-becoming-legendary presentations of Steve Jobs, co-founder and head of Apple Inc. There are three... Read >

Science, Reason, and Robots

by Philip Yaffe It is often said that what distinguishes true science fiction from space horse operas is its ability to examine fundamental questions of ethics, philosophy, and sociology in situations so remote from contemporary life that they can be... Read >

If you want them to read, teach them to write

by Philip Yaffe How often have you gone to see the film that won the Oscar for best picture of the year, only to be disappointed? Probably more than once. Did this mean that there was something wrong with you or something wrong with the judges who vo... Read >

Questions of faith I am dying to have answered

by Philip Yaffe To try to pre-empt people from misreading between the lines, let me clearly declare that the purpose of this article is in no way to challenge anyone's faith, but rather to better define my own. I am now approaching the proverb... Read >

Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Gertrude Stein

by Philip Yaffe Part 17 of an occasional series I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school. I am particularly fond of what I like to call "pithy prose". The... Read >

How an ugly duckling became a swan

by Philip Yaffe Over the past 40-plus years as a journalist and marketing communication consultant, I have frequently been told that I am an exceptionally good writer by teachers, friends, colleagues, and clients. But I wasn't always a good writer;... Read >

Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Simone Veil

by Philip Yaffe Part 16 of an occasional series I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school. I am particularly fond of what I like to call "pithy prose". The... Read >

Public speaking: Why using the right word is not always the right thing to do

by Philip Yaffe Mark Twain famously said: "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." Of course he was absolutely right -- and partially wrong. As every profes... Read >

Pithy Prose: The Wit & Wisdom of Friedrich Schiller

by Philip Yaffe Part 15 of an occasional series I am a collector of quotations. I have been ever since I learned how to write, I mean professionally, not in primary school. I am particularly fond of what I like to call "pithy prose". The... Read >

How a Polish immigrant in the USA directed a major victory over hepatitis B

by Philip Yaffe Because they were extracted from human blood, the first-generation hepatitis B vaccines developed in the early 1980s had significant drawbacks, including high cost, low availability, and the possibility of unsuspected contamination ... Read >

How to make dull information exciting

by Philip Yaffe Someone once said (it may have been me): "There is no dull information, only dull writers." We have all had the misfortune of reading very dull texts and sitting through very dull presentations. But were they inherently dull? O... Read >

Common misconceptions: Things we know that just aren't so

by Philip Yaffe We all live with misconceptions about the world. This is quite normal. No one can be an expert in everything, so we simplify our learning into easy-to-remember snippets, which are often very close to the truth, but never quite there... Read >

It's a strange, strange world

by Philip Yaffe As someone once said (it may have been Einstein, but it may have been someone else): "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine." Whoever may have said it, in 1929 a certain Robert Riple... Read >