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How to write more clearly, think more clearly, and learn complex material [pdf]

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Re: How to write more clearly, think more clearly, and learn complex material [pdf]

#111

Post by mym1990 »

maroonblazer wrote: post #106
enigmatic02 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagreed with 5, it's too prescriptive. Lots of great writers use progressive disclosure to keep people hooked Being unselfish also helps with building great products. Reminds me of this article, treat your reader like a customer: https://www.productlessons.xyz/article/improve-business-writ...

I don't think progressive disclosure applies in the cases the author is discussing. Slide 8: "Most of the writing in the world is for information." Readers looking for information aren't interested in being teased to keep reading. That's a recipe for 'unhooking' them. They want to know what the author thinks they should know. No pussyfooting.

I feel like progressive disclosure is such a broad term that anything can be made to fall under it...any book written, show filmed, movie created is progressively disclosing information/story.

FWIW plenty of informational books pussyfoot just to get a bigger piece out, there is fluff, anecdotes, tangents, but humans understand through storytelling, and ultimately that is usually a good way to go about sharing ideas.

Re: How to write more clearly, think more clearly, and learn complex material [pdf]

#112

Post by akomtu »

photochemsyn wrote: post #31

One useful first step in becoming a better writer - in particular if your subject is complex - is to to delete your Twitter account and never look at another Twitter thread. Character limits kill creativity and complexity. The presentation does leave out one very necessary requirement for becoming a good-to-great writer: you have to do a lot of reading. If you're going to write about a complex scientific or technical…

Many famous old books (bhagavatgita, etc.) look like a long list of tweets. Each "tweet" is well thought out and has multiple layers of meanings. Such books often have companion books with commentary, where each "tweet" is explained in many paragraphs of text. Those commentaries are written by very knowledgeable and respected people, who are, nevertheless, aren't wise enough (yet) to write those condensed "tweets".

Re: How to write more clearly, think more clearly, and learn complex material [pdf]

#113

Post by tveyben »

heinrichhartman wrote: post #45

Forgive me for bringing up my own material here, but I wrote a piece that is highly relevant in this context only two days ago: Writing for Engineers - https://www.heinrichhartmann.com/posts/writing/ This text is particularly geared towards Software Engineers and focuses more on the psychology of getting started with writing. Lot's of overlap with the content in this post (which has much more depth on the "how to wri…

Good article!

I especially enjoyed the “Start at the Top not the Beginning” part.

Re: How to write more clearly, think more clearly, and learn complex material [pdf]

#114

Post by rmbyrro »

heinrichhartman wrote: post #45

Forgive me for bringing up my own material here, but I wrote a piece that is highly relevant in this context only two days ago: Writing for Engineers - https://www.heinrichhartmann.com/posts/writing/ This text is particularly geared towards Software Engineers and focuses more on the psychology of getting started with writing. Lot's of overlap with the content in this post (which has much more depth on the "how to wri…

No need to ask for forgiveness.

Just disclose you're promoting something you created.

Re: How to write more clearly, think more clearly, and learn complex material [pdf]

#115

Post by supersrdjan »

_ddzr wrote: post #71

Key takeaways: 1. One of the best ways to improve your writing is to learn how to cut out words that are not necessary 2. Stuffy writing is bad writing! It lowers the power of your brain and mine! 3. What words should you never use in writing? Words whose exact meanings you don’t know! Never use a word unless you know EXACTLY what it means 4. If your writing is nonsense, maybe your thoughts are nonsense too! 5. To ke…

Combining #7 and #5 leads to:

Often write the first sentence of a paragraph last, after you know what is the paragraph's main point.

Re: How to write more clearly, think more clearly, and learn complex material [pdf]

#117

Post by erwincoumans »

pc86 wrote: post #68
photochemsyn wrote: post #31

One useful first step in becoming a better writer - in particular if your subject is complex - is to to delete your Twitter account and never look at another Twitter thread. Character limits kill creativity and complexity. The presentation does leave out one very necessary requirement for becoming a good-to-great writer: you have to do a lot of reading. If you're going to write about a complex scientific or technical…

"Never look at another Twitter thread" is pretty great advice no matter what the question is.

I disagree: I follow research scientists and software developers in topics of my interest. This way, Twitter feed keeps me up-to-date on useful information in topics I care for and I can exchange news and ideas with those people.

Re: How to write more clearly, think more clearly, and learn complex material [pdf]

#118

Post by erwincoumans »

kepler1 wrote: post #38

For someone who advocates clear writing and communication, it's pretty amusing that he puts this advice into the worst kind of information-sparse 125-page Powerpoint, and thinks that it needs to be protected with a copyright.

I skipped right to the HN comments for summaries and follow-up article/book recommendations.

Re: How to write more clearly, think more clearly, and learn complex material [pdf]

#119

Post by paufernandez »

bspear wrote: post #102
stackbutterflow wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding 1, something I've noticed on HN is the overuse of some adverbs. "Absolutely" comes to mind. "I absolutely agree" could as well be "I agree".

True, I wonder if it's driven by people's need to over-express over the internet since there's no body language

I think some people overexpress in general, regardless of the medium. I think it comes from an excess of "passion", which is like permanent exageration. I am prone to it, that's why I know, and I try to keep it under control.

Re: How to write more clearly, think more clearly, and learn complex material [pdf]

#120

Post by erwincoumans »

_ddzr wrote: post #71

Key takeaways: 1. One of the best ways to improve your writing is to learn how to cut out words that are not necessary 2. Stuffy writing is bad writing! It lowers the power of your brain and mine! 3. What words should you never use in writing? Words whose exact meanings you don’t know! Never use a word unless you know EXACTLY what it means 4. If your writing is nonsense, maybe your thoughts are nonsense too! 5. To ke…

Thanks for your well written summary!
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