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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]

#141

Post by hammock »

ciphol wrote: post #125
brian_cunnie wrote: post #122

This is my writing gem: when you send an email, you either want them to know something or do something, so say that in the first sentence: Good: "FYI, our etcd cluster is broken, but we're working to fix it." Bad: "I came in this morning, and while I was going through my emails when I saw a message about one of the nodes in our cluster. So I checked it out, and sure enough it was down, and I went to the console and s…

This is how journalists are taught to write. In a "pyramidal" style where the key facts come first, followed by elaboration, followed by more elaborate elaboration.

Even following a simple "who what when where why how" order of elaboration is extremely useful and clarifying.

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

#142

Post by hammock »

_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…

>Key takeaways: 1. One of the best ways to improve your writing is to learn how to cut out words that are not necessary

I believe you meant, "1. Cut out unnecessary words."

;)

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

#143

Post by RivieraKid »

shanusmagnus wrote: post #85
V__ wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks interesting. May I ask what would be the most valuable lesson you got out of it?

The most enduring lesson was an attitudinal shift toward the reader. The book's stance is that the reader is capable of and interested in understanding whatever it is that you want to say, and your job is not to dazzle her, or persuade her, but rather to provide her the conceptual building blocks to conclude what you have yourself concluded. After reading the book I realized that, without ever having consciously deci…

Or him.

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

#144

Post by hammock »

stackbutterflow wrote: post #101
_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…

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".

Don't use adverbs or adjectives at all unless necessary.

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

#145

Post by hammock »

kranner wrote: post #103
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".

I don't know; "absolutely" can add emphasis. Advising someone not to use it because "agree" covers it anyway feels like trying to suppress their personality. We're communicating, not playing language golf.

Unnecessary emphasis betrays insecurity on the part of the author.

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

#146

Post by skydhash »

Trasmatta wrote: post #48
Buttons840 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard 90+% of people will not participate in online discussions. It makes me wonder what people would do if you forced them to do so as part of a job. How many people can participate in a forum and make coherent multi-paragraph arguments? We HN participants can, but we're a biased group. A lot of people are accustomed to conversational-style communication as found in Slack or social media, and they may not have…

Oh yeah, good point. A lot of people these days have never used a communication medium like that. It would be interesting to work at a company that really prioritized people who prefer that communication style, over the non stop stream of consciousness that Slack turns into.

A lot of my old colleagues actually balked at the thought of creating a report, preferring mostly to be told what to do, or doing it their own way. Actually justifying their arguments in writing with cons and pros was a no-go.

These days, as I'm working as a freelancer, I try to get much of my thinking in writing. These makes sharing information a bliss as I have a trove of documentation to support whatever discussion we're having

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

#147

Post by hammock »

rfrey wrote: post #50
gfodor wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, a person skilled at Twitter could have compressed the essence of what you wrote into 280 characters. I’ve found the best books and essays are similarly compressible, with the rest of the information being about bolstering it as being worthy of the precious few slots in your L1 cache.

The essence, perhaps... with none of the nuance or shading. If one thinks that is unnecessary, dispensable fluff, Twitter is no doubt sufficient for most writing. And a rhyming dictionary contains all poetry in many fewer pages.

Does the master oil painter not start with charcoal pencil?

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

#148

Post by skydhash »

hnthrowaway0315 wrote: post #66

I found it embarrassing that I actually do not know much material that worth to be written. My gut feeling is that one month of intensive research/work/study can be summarized in a long blog post. But in my post-student life I have, unfortunately, avoided so many of those intensive experience because they are difficult. I even switch job every 2-3 years so that I never get much deep understanding of pretty much anyth…

Every time I wanted to write, I felt that what I'm writing about is either trivial or already done. But whenever someone asked me something, I could speak about it for hours. So now, I'm building personal wikis - one for learning and work, the other for thinking. I jot down whatever I feel somewhat relevant. Aiming for the perfect blog post stunted me, so I love writing in a more raw format and a less structured environment.

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

#149

Post by johnqian »

pschuegr wrote: post #130
richardatlarge wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another thing done at all levels of schooling is to ignore the needed process of revision. A paper is written and then graded, but if revision was a focus the student would learn a great lesson: great ideas and writing take re-writing

I never thought about this, but it's true. The value of iteration is woefully undersold.

Now that I think about it, an incredibly valuable exercise would be to give students a longwinded, vague, rambling essay and make them rewrite it to be as clear and concise as possible. This even works within the time-constrained test environment.

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

#150

Post by shakezula »

enigmatic02 wrote: post #92
_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…

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...

You have to know the rules to break them. This is a good rule to know and then know how to break.
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