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How to Write Usefully

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Write Usefully

#81

Post by vasilipupkin »

keiferski wrote: post #13

As a counterpoint, I'd argue that the "mathematical" approach to good writing is inherently flawed. That is, trying to arrive at the formula for the "best" essay via dialectic (argument) is to miss the forest for the trees. Writing is an art, not a science. Formal logic was developed to display arguments, so if you are trying to be as precise and mathematical as possible, use that instead. Instead, I'd suggest readin…

there is a difference between a literary essay and the kind PG is talking about here. PG's essays are more like maybe business commentary than literary essays. Some of these insights apply anyway, to all essays - but don't confuse different types of essays.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#82

Post by mellavora »

mellavora wrote: post #80
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.

allegedly. On the topic of not ending a sentence with a preposition.

https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/11/14/churchill-on-prepositions/

Re: How to Write Usefully

#83

Post by throwawaylolx »

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.

>He just doesn't care to improve his work.

Alternatively, you may overestimate how objective these rules are and how much they must correlate with some universal metric for good writing.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#84

Post by the_af »

keiferski wrote: post #13

As a counterpoint, I'd argue that the "mathematical" approach to good writing is inherently flawed. That is, trying to arrive at the formula for the "best" essay via dialectic (argument) is to miss the forest for the trees. Writing is an art, not a science. Formal logic was developed to display arguments, so if you are trying to be as precise and mathematical as possible, use that instead. Instead, I'd suggest readin…

First of all: interesting post!

But since you mentioned Borges let me offer a counter-counterpoint: Borges was obsessive about his writings and can be considered "mathematical" about them. He chopped away anything that didn't fit and was very careful about the construction of sentences. He was so obsessed that he recalled -- or so I read somewhere -- something that was already printed in order to make corrections to it.

Poe claimed he was quite "mathematical" (or maybe the word is "methodical", or "analytical") about the construction of his famous poem The Raven. While this claim is disputed, or maybe he exaggerated, at least it's something he liked to claim about some of his work.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#85

Post by contingencies »

Niven's First Law of Writing: Writers who write for other writers should write letters. - Larry Niven, science fiction author (1989)

Blind monkey at the typewriter. - Robert Burnham Jr., Astronomer (1983)

We'll need writers who can remember freedom - poets, visionaries - realists of a larger reality. - Ursula K. Le Guin

The writer is that person who, embarking upon her task, does not know what to do. - Donald Barthelme

There can be no reliable biography of a writer, 'because a writer is too many people if he is any good'. - Andrew O'Hagan

Summary of advice from writers: Advice from writers is useful, and not only about naming. Writers have been at it for centuries; programming is merely decades old. Also, their advice is better written. And funnier. - Peter Hilton

... from https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup

(Edit: One of PG's main points here is succinctly summarized by this other pithy taoup quote: Lest men suspect your tale untrue, keep probability in view. - John Gay (1727))

Re: How to Write Usefully

#87

Post by firatcan »

Hello guys,

I don't know if it's right place to ask this, but do you guys have any other resources that I can learn how to write great essays.

Because I have started to write essays at our startups blog which is called www.jooseph.com . It is basically playlists for learning. This resources would be really helpful for me to create a list for how to write great essay and also teach myself to how write great essays. Thanks in advance

Re: How to Write Usefully

#88

Post by vasilipupkin »

hnhg wrote: post #3

I'll say it again, it's a piece of writing that wouldn't warrant any attention if it weren't for the author's status here. I'm halfway through and my brain is stunned by the effort of forcing it down. PG needs a break from writing for a while. I enjoyed his early stuff and I hope he gets a return to form. [edit: it's like he's the George Lucas of writing useful articles for hackers: the early ones were classics but h…

Strong disagree there. Sure, quality varies. I thought "The Two Kinds of Moderate", which is very recent, was excellent.

Re: How to Write Usefully

#89

Post by keiferski »

nottorp wrote: post #75
keiferski wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ne…

Sure, I agree, but Thiel hardly needs the money from a self-help book. He seems to have chosen the book format in order to access the market that you described, though I feel like he’s smart enough to have put out a more significant product. IIRC he went on an interview tour promoting the book, so I think it was mostly to get his ideas out there.

In any case, it’s actually just an edited collection of lecture notes from his class on startups. Thus the length and repetitiveness. That’s fine and I wouldn’t expect an undergraduate course to deliver some radical new brilliant theory, but some people have certainly received it that way...

Re: How to Write Usefully

#90

Post by CaptArmchair »

firatcan wrote: post #87

Hello guys, I don't know if it's right place to ask this, but do you guys have any other resources that I can learn how to write great essays. Because I have started to write essays at our startups blog which is called www.jooseph.com . It is basically playlists for learning. This resources would be really helpful for me to create a list for how to write great essay and also teach myself to how write great essays. Th…

You want to read Umberto Eco's seminal "How to write a thesis". Not quite the same as an essay. But it does contain tons of good stuff on writing.
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