There’s a class of authors I don’t read not because they’re bad at writing, or because they’re not smart, but that because they’re so smart and so good at writing that they can bend the facts to tell whatever story they wish to tell.
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David Graeber falls into this category for me.
(“Why aren’t you reading him?” a friend asks, and the honest answer is that I don’t have the energy to turn on my epistemic shields for his stuff).
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The most important class of authors to dodge is good at writing / not smart. These authors produce the most pernicious books with captivating prose and anecdotes belying horribly fallacious arguments (e.g. The Psychology of Money, Gladwell books)
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I can understand abt Gladwell as he is not a practitioner.
But I am surprised you would club Housel with Gladwell. Would you please share what “horribly fallacious arguments” in his book?
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oh, this reminds me of 's thoughts on historical fluency, trust & the simplification bell curve
when providing interpretation, not just information, there is a certain level of trust the reader & writer share
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6/ What makes this a bell curve?
"In sum, this style of history requires a lot of historical fluency on one end, and a lot of trust on the other. That, in (not very) short is my theory about why more history is not taught like this."
This whole section is spot on 
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popping up randomly in some amazing conversations! I love it, and thanks for the thread on her Machiavelli writings. Now I just need to go read the actual thing.
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Just wondering when one falls into this "smart/skillful but non-believable" category? When their bio does not showmuch skin in the game? (in other words, the ones that score low on "believability" metric? commoncog.com/blog/believabi)
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There is the opposite of this, bad writers with good ideas such as Gary Klein.
The upside is authors like this provide an opportunity for others who are able to synthesize and explicate their works to a broader audience.
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