Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Need to Read

paulgraham.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 195 posts

Re: The Need to Read

#81

Post by zktrust »

arcturus17 wrote: post #59
zktrust wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

u make one hell of a point that i thought about. this is recursion but in different languages, which is not really applicable with exception of Richard and Henry. Read in latin, then translate it to THE ORIGINAL OTHER LANGUAGE ENGLISH. You are diluting my genuine point that I am making. The content of way back then was negligible to content that exists now. In all fairness, the opinion brought forward by your messiah…

> The content of way back then was negligible to content that exists now But enough to fill a single person's lifetime regardless? So whether you take Shakespeare or Murakami, their individual perspectives are not that different since either of them could have filled their lifetimes with reading. > The content of way back then was negligible to content that exists now The burden of proof remains on you. You need to f…

the last point was for a different thread but as u see platform has been making sure i cant respond in timely fashion to all threads. I sequeezed it in there.

> The burden of proof remains on you. You need to find us an example of an outstanding writer who didn't read much. This doesn't even hold for the classics (eg, Marcus Aurelius or Plato) as far as I can tell.

I think it's fair to say that we don't actually know much about Plato. All stories being told about plato are in third person narrative. I think you are contradicting yourself, Socrates and other ancients were a big proponent of discarding writing in place of dialogue. I think this should suffice as point.

Re: The Need to Read

#82

Post by Kaibeezy »

iillexial wrote: post #79
Kaibeezy wrote: post #74

I suspect the author is making a good point, but it is far from adequately supported. Merely an assertion of opinion, not a even really a fleshed-out essay. Here’s the real shit, scariest thing I’ve ever read: The Erosion of Deep Literacy , Adam Garfinkle, National Affairs, 2020 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25311662

The first comment in your link says basically the same what you have said: >This article makes far reaching societal claims with essentially no evidence. and >I suspect the author is making a good point, but it is far from adequately supported

So read the article. It’s way better supported than this one. I’ll be interested in your reactions and happy to engage in a conversation. See you later?

Re: The Need to Read

#84

Post by inglor_cz »

antirez wrote: post #55

Many of us are programmers. Some of us are also trying to be writers. Trust me: writing is like programming. Reading code is very useful to become a better programmer, but you learn programming mostly by writing code. Similarly you mostly learn how to write prose by writing prose, tons of it. Reading is especially useful if you identify certain books that are very high in style (for me one of such books was "Vite di…

I wrote eight books, sold about 35 000 copies (fairly huge number for Czechia with its not-quite-11 million people), and I am also a programmer.

The similarities are pretty strong. In both cases, you need to express yourself so that the receiving party may understand you.

That said, human readers are a lot more welcoming and friendly consumers of your written work than computers. Positive feedback from computers is basically nonexistent.

Re: The Need to Read

#85

Post by Kaibeezy »

d4rkp4ttern wrote: post #83

Something I didn’t see mentioned enough in the discussion — Reading is also a fantastic antidote to mindless phone scrolling or web surfing.

Since getting Covid, it’s been harder to put down the phone and pick up a book :( Sort of the opposite of that thing about toxoplasmosis creating alpha wolves.

Re: The Need to Read

#86

Post by iillexial »

Kaibeezy wrote: post #82
iillexial wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first comment in your link says basically the same what you have said: >This article makes far reaching societal claims with essentially no evidence. and >I suspect the author is making a good point, but it is far from adequately supported

So read the article. It’s way better supported than this one. I’ll be interested in your reactions and happy to engage in a conversation. See you later?

Sorry, I didn't mean to claim that article that you sent makes false claims. It was just fun seeing a comment that claims about not well supported article, following the link, and seeing the same comment. Nothing more.

Re: The Need to Read

#87

Post by inglor_cz »

zktrust wrote: post #39
mikebenfield wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you are under the belief that the written output of one man born in 1564 was of greater quantity than all “good” writing prior to his time? Are you sure you thought this through?

no i am not under the belief of anything other than mentioning PG in a slightly bad light will get me downvotes or a ban on this platform. > So you are under the belief that the written output of one man born in 1564 was of greater quantity than all “good” writing prior to his time? Are you sure you thought this through? This is not the point i was trying to make.

It is not PG, it is your sneering and arrogant attitude that attracts downvotes.

I haven't downvoted you, but if I did, it would be for the tone of your comments alone. I don't care about PG one way or another, but I am sick of the total level of glibness on the Internet, and while I gave up on mainstream social media, I would prefer HN to stay a little bit friendlier and less toxic than Twitter or Reddit.

Re: The Need to Read

#88

Post by barnacled »

inglor_cz wrote: post #84
antirez wrote: post #55

Many of us are programmers. Some of us are also trying to be writers. Trust me: writing is like programming. Reading code is very useful to become a better programmer, but you learn programming mostly by writing code. Similarly you mostly learn how to write prose by writing prose, tons of it. Reading is especially useful if you identify certain books that are very high in style (for me one of such books was "Vite di…

I wrote eight books, sold about 35 000 copies (fairly huge number for Czechia with its not-quite-11 million people), and I am also a programmer. The similarities are pretty strong. In both cases, you need to express yourself so that the receiving party may understand you. That said, human readers are a lot more welcoming and friendly consumers of your written work than computers. Positive feedback from computers is b…

Incredible work! I'm writing my own book (obligatory mailing list link [0] and description [1]) and I wondered how you tackled the mental side? It is a bit of a rollercoaster I am finding. That constant fear gnawing in the back of your head 'is this really any good at all?' :) I suppose it is the price of caring.

[0]:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSen0gefOrPWi6ZtEQ25... [1]:https://ljs.io/book.html

Re: The Need to Read

#89

Post by Hendrikto »

inglor_cz wrote: post #84
antirez wrote: post #55

Many of us are programmers. Some of us are also trying to be writers. Trust me: writing is like programming. Reading code is very useful to become a better programmer, but you learn programming mostly by writing code. Similarly you mostly learn how to write prose by writing prose, tons of it. Reading is especially useful if you identify certain books that are very high in style (for me one of such books was "Vite di…

I wrote eight books, sold about 35 000 copies (fairly huge number for Czechia with its not-quite-11 million people), and I am also a programmer. The similarities are pretty strong. In both cases, you need to express yourself so that the receiving party may understand you. That said, human readers are a lot more welcoming and friendly consumers of your written work than computers. Positive feedback from computers is b…

> Positive feedback from computers is basically nonexistent.

412 tests passed, 0 warnings, 0 errors.

Re: The Need to Read

#90

Post by antirez »

inglor_cz wrote: post #84
antirez wrote: post #55

Many of us are programmers. Some of us are also trying to be writers. Trust me: writing is like programming. Reading code is very useful to become a better programmer, but you learn programming mostly by writing code. Similarly you mostly learn how to write prose by writing prose, tons of it. Reading is especially useful if you identify certain books that are very high in style (for me one of such books was "Vite di…

I wrote eight books, sold about 35 000 copies (fairly huge number for Czechia with its not-quite-11 million people), and I am also a programmer. The similarities are pretty strong. In both cases, you need to express yourself so that the receiving party may understand you. That said, human readers are a lot more welcoming and friendly consumers of your written work than computers. Positive feedback from computers is b…

Don't you want to hug your monitor when it compiles? :D
Post reply on HN