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I usually learn from these essays, but I've always found them somewhat grating. Some perceive the style as confrontational, but I think that's unreasonable inte
by sayrer 19y ago
I usually learn from these essays, but I've always found them somewhat grating. Some perceive the style as confrontational, but I think that's unreasonable intellectual defensiveness that pg so often picks apart.
These deletions have helped me realize why these essays bother me, on a stylistic level. The cadence is very regular and robotic. It's easy to anticipate the switches from descriptions of conventional wisdom to a different way of framing the problem, and easy to anticipate that there will be a conventional wisdom to roast.
- pg 19y agoIs the draft less grating?
- sayrer 19y agoI haven't reread the edited version, but the draft is less grating to me than most of these essays (I read every essay). I can see why you deleted much of it, but the draft has some interesting detail that got cut. The essays do have a lot of telling vs. showing, and maybe that gives them the feel of over-produced music. For instance, the paragraph about VC reactions to your suggestions in Why There Aren't More Googles would be way better as an anecdote with specific detail, imho.