Actually rhetoric is one of the things Aristotle still has valuable things to say. Basically all the rhetoric books I've read (not that many, not an expert) ar

Actually rhetoric is one of the things Aristotle still has valuable things to say. Basically all the rhetoric books I've read (not that many, not an expert) are just expanding and giving examples to Aristotles "Rhetoric". The modern english translations are quite readable and the concepts are straightforward. They circle around the concepts of ethos, pathos and logos. I.e. you must convince the audience you are worth listening to, then you must appeal to both of their feelings and logic. This means various things, including toning your message depending on the audience. And, even engineers are affected by emotions, you just need to find the right context :)