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How to Write Usefully

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Write Usefully

#71

Post by darkerside »

anon4242 wrote: post #70
strongbond wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know several people who keep silent until they can say something clever, and frankly, in most group situations they stand out as being slightly weird. Keeping your intellectual powder dry is just not a socially 'giving' behaviour. What's wrong with saying something that's not clever? Within a group, it might send the conversation off in a delightfully unanticipated direction. There's more to it all than always bein…

> Within a group, it might send the conversation off in a delightfully unanticipated direction. Or a not so delightfully unanticipated direction. Too many times I've realized too late that I was in a "hostile" group, so I say something stupid thinking I'm among friends and it's like switching a button on the group mood.

Then you've discovered something extremely valuable about that group

Re: How to Write Usefully

#72

Post by amiga_500 »

Traster wrote: post #26

>How can you ensure that the things you say are true and novel and important? Believe it or not, there is a trick for doing this. I learned it from my friend Robert Morris, who has a horror of saying anything dumb. His trick is not to say anything unless he's sure it's worth hearing. This makes it hard to get opinions out of him, but when you do, they're usually right. How is this useful? How do I say things that are…

I assume Mr Morris would have kept that gem to himself.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#73

Post by cneurotic »

say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #69

PG speaks of writing usefully while not writing well. Many of his sentences are phrases. The subject of his sentence is often unclear. He begins sentences with the preposition, "But". Yet, his writing remains useful. I'd rather the latter than the former if I had to choose, but considering the volume that he writes, it's surprising that he hasn't put effort into writing well. He just doesn't care to improve his work.

Entering pedantic mode:

"But," in Paul's usage, isn't a preposition. And starting sentences with prepositions isn't considered "incorrect" by most grammarians[0]. Or even bad style.

If it's good enough for the Bible[1], it's probably good enough for you.

[0]https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/10/26/102560_can-you-start...

[1]https://biblehub.com/nlt/genesis/31.htm

Re: How to Write Usefully

#74

Post by kasey_junk »

cneurotic wrote: post #73
say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #69

PG speaks of writing usefully while not writing well. Many of his sentences are phrases. The subject of his sentence is often unclear. He begins sentences with the preposition, "But". Yet, his writing remains useful. I'd rather the latter than the former if I had to choose, but considering the volume that he writes, it's surprising that he hasn't put effort into writing well. He just doesn't care to improve his work.

Entering pedantic mode: "But," in Paul's usage, isn't a preposition. And starting sentences with prepositions isn't considered "incorrect" by most grammarians[0]. Or even bad style. If it's good enough for the Bible[1], it's probably good enough for you. [0] https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/10/26/102560_can-you-start... [1] https://biblehub.com/nlt/genesis/31.htm

I’m certainly no grammarian or even much of a writer, but the Bible seems a particularly odd piece of writing to use as a guide.

It’s been translated to the nth degree, is ancient & frequently obtuse on purpose...

Re: How to Write Usefully

#75

Post by nottorp »

keiferski wrote: post #45
pzqmpzqm wrote: post #34

The first time I read Zero to One by Peter Thiel, I was a bit miffed. Stupid shit stated poorly. The second time, inartful puffery stated overly plainly. The third time, individual brilliance stated clearly. Many replies here would do well to read, re-read, and re-re-read with an introspective mindset. This is perhaps the best quality material I have seen from pg for quite some time. Its clarity is brilliant and the…

The ideas in Zero to One are not new and can be summarized in a few paragraphs. As with basically every other book/essay/speech written by a financially-successful person, it is over-valued simply because its author is good at making money. That said, it is certainly better than your typical business book - but that isn't saying much.

All self improvement books (and by self improvement i mean books that claim to tell you some secret of value, i.e. i'm including business advice or drivel like the black swan) have at most 2-3 good ideas, mostly common sense, that they repeat in different forms until the book is thick enough to get sold as a book.

That's the market. You wouldn't pay for a short essay that tells you the same ideas in 2000 words but never repeats itself would you?

And that's before considering whether those 2-3 ideas are even worth the trouble.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#77

Post by martin-adams »

Traster wrote: post #26

>How can you ensure that the things you say are true and novel and important? Believe it or not, there is a trick for doing this. I learned it from my friend Robert Morris, who has a horror of saying anything dumb. His trick is not to say anything unless he's sure it's worth hearing. This makes it hard to get opinions out of him, but when you do, they're usually right. How is this useful? How do I say things that are…

I've interpreted this as to hold back on publishing your thoughts until you actually are confident in what your thoughts are.

I have a habit of forming my ideas in emails before I know the conclusion. It's important to edit that work and remove the dead ends and keep it concise. It's important to keep it useful.

I guess what he's saying is if you still don't know the conclusion of your writing, maybe you shouldn't publish it.

This of course is writing for the benefit of the reader. There is plenty of writing which is beneficial to the writer.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#78

Post by anon4242 »

darkerside wrote: post #71
anon4242 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Within a group, it might send the conversation off in a delightfully unanticipated direction. Or a not so delightfully unanticipated direction. Too many times I've realized too late that I was in a "hostile" group, so I say something stupid thinking I'm among friends and it's like switching a button on the group mood.

Then you've discovered something extremely valuable about that group

Sure, but as a result I've grown more and more cautious about relaxing my guard which has made me more and more quiet in social situations.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#79

Post by hnarn »

say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #69

PG speaks of writing usefully while not writing well. Many of his sentences are phrases. The subject of his sentence is often unclear. He begins sentences with the preposition, "But". Yet, his writing remains useful. I'd rather the latter than the former if I had to choose, but considering the volume that he writes, it's surprising that he hasn't put effort into writing well. He just doesn't care to improve his work.

Starting a sentence with "But I think we can" is neither incorrect, nor is it a preposition.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#80

Post by mellavora »

say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #69

PG speaks of writing usefully while not writing well. Many of his sentences are phrases. The subject of his sentence is often unclear. He begins sentences with the preposition, "But". Yet, his writing remains useful. I'd rather the latter than the former if I had to choose, but considering the volume that he writes, it's surprising that he hasn't put effort into writing well. He just doesn't care to improve his work.

This is something up with which we will not put!

--Winston Churchill.

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