3 ms·

I read a few pages of this book. It reads as though it was written by a 15 year old. I'm shocked by it success - it felt like a collection of youtube comments t

I read a few pages of this book. It reads as though it was written by a 15 year old. I'm shocked by it success - it felt like a collection of youtube comments that had been corrected for punctuation and spelling and ordered into chapters.

mettamage 9y ago
To play devil's advocate: couldn't simple writing be seen as "good UX?" I haven't thought about this much, but I'm sure copywriters, (etc.) have.
- kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
  I don't think that the OP meant that it was so nice and simple that it was a breeze to read. I think OP meant that it felt like a bunch of r/im13andthisisdeep posts.
swyx 9y ago
i just heard him doing the podcast rounds. this guy has spent the last ten years being a "content creator" churning out thousands of words a day aimed at the mass market. You're shocked that it has mass market success? He's done his 10,000 hours. It doesn't cater to you but that's almost by design.
jasonkostempski 9y ago
My heuristic for this kind of thing is: Subject is "how to be happy" and "is for sale" then "complete bullshit". By selling something you are, by definition, giving a fuck, so how can anyone take this seriously? I think some people have some really good advice for being happy and I don't think those people have any interest in putting that advice behind a paywall. Problem is, it's harder to find because they don't have an advertising agent.
mherrmann 9y ago
I read the entire book and was disappointed as well. Little content (even taking into account the low number of pages), and very non-profound. I'm amazed at its success as well.
skrebbel 9y ago
Your comment triggered me to google around for a sample. All I can say is that I wish more youtube comments were written like this. Sample here: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2534908/the-subtle-art-of-not-giving-a-fck https://www.overdrive.com/media/2534908/the-subtle-art-of-no... (click "read a sample" on the left)

mettamage 9y ago

To play devil's advocate: couldn't simple writing be seen as "good UX?" I haven't thought about this much, but I'm sure copywriters, (etc.) have.

kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
I don't think that the OP meant that it was so nice and simple that it was a breeze to read. I think OP meant that it felt like a bunch of r/im13andthisisdeep posts.

swyx 9y ago

i just heard him doing the podcast rounds. this guy has spent the last ten years being a "content creator" churning out thousands of words a day aimed at the mass market. You're shocked that it has mass market success? He's done his 10,000 hours. It doesn't cater to you but that's almost by design.

jasonkostempski 9y ago

My heuristic for this kind of thing is: Subject is "how to be happy" and "is for sale" then "complete bullshit". By selling something you are, by definition, giving a fuck, so how can anyone take this seriously? I think some people have some really good advice for being happy and I don't think those people have any interest in putting that advice behind a paywall. Problem is, it's harder to find because they don't have an advertising agent.

mherrmann 9y ago

I read the entire book and was disappointed as well. Little content (even taking into account the low number of pages), and very non-profound. I'm amazed at its success as well.

skrebbel 9y ago

Your comment triggered me to google around for a sample. All I can say is that I wish more youtube comments were written like this. Sample here: https://www.overdrive.com/media/2534908/the-subtle-art-of-not-giving-a-fck https://www.overdrive.com/media/2534908/the-subtle-art-of-no... (click "read a sample" on the left)