Book excerpt: This book condenses the important lessons learned at key points during the author’s 30-year career as an intergovernmental conference interpreter and trainer, seeking to define what constitutes good interpreting and how to develop the skills and abilities that are conducive to it, as well as fostering practices and technologies that help to maintain high professional standards. The book places interpreting in its historical context as a time-honoured discipline and discusses the effect of modern technology on translating and interpreting, identifying areas where it is most useful (electronic communications media, broadcasting) while stressing that professional education and training of linguists are more important than reliance on technological shortcuts. The book is an invaluable resource to all those working or training in conference interpreting, as well as being a stimulating read for those engaged in the wider work of interpreting.