Fascinatingly disgusting: Tim Urban rewrites the first two paragraphs of "Write Simply" (http://paulgraham.com/simply.html ).https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy/status/1370188105010020354 …
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Incidentally, just so everyone understands, I'm not making fun of Tim Urban by calling this fascinatingly disgusting. He's deliberately trying to write badly, to show how not to do it.https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy/status/1370114273272344577 …
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I think some readers feel confident and good being able to understand
@waitbutwhy's version. But also, I am getting slightly nervous on whether I am replying simple enough.Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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If you write simply the reader uses system 1 (Kahneman) to read and system 2 to comprehend. In contrast, if you write as
@waitbutwhy showed, the reader is forced to use the same machine (system 2) for both reading and comprehending. Making it more difficult than it needs to be -
The reason we read a complex piece of text more slowly is that the two tasks (reading /comprehending) take turns in the system 2. Write so that people can read on autopilot, and use system 2 only for comprehension of the idea, not the text itself.
End of conversation
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In 1940 i called for brevity. Evidently I must do so again.
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Hi Paul. Your LISP books are also excellent examples of your high class clear writing skills. The text AND the code.
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I connected very well to his writing
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Underscores the point that the problem is not just too many big words. A great example for a great writing lesson.
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@waitbutwhy is a cool guy because he wrote those Elon Musk PDFs which were really cool. Don’t like his procrastination monkey thoughThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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I wonder what is a great book for you that was consistently written in this style, simple writing.
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