Conversation

Books that “work”, (not necessarily good): - Math books with > 70% exercises - Genre fiction that respects > 80% of conventions - stream of consciousness - random-access ref books - “Idea museum” books like GEB - Atmospheric fiction (mood prose) - Straight-up history - Poetry
Replying to
“Work” as in there is a learnable construction method that produces a predictable access/use behavior on the part of the reader, which has a somewhat predictable before/after effect on their cognitive condition that is close to what writer intended
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More... - red-pill books (radicalizing/false-conscious creation-destruction) - traditional plays (but not necessarily TV/movie scripts) - minimalist comic books (complex ones may be good but they don’t “work” reliably) In general a book “works” if it induces a “literacy”
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Literacy should be considered a collection of highly specific medium-unlocking adaptations, not a generic symbol processing cognitive ability. You’re not literate in “English” but in something like “mystery novels” or “Japanese style comic books”.
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