4 ms·

> he has become too much of a cult figure I didn't know who PG was until recently. I knew he was well respected on HN but I've never found that much value in h

> he has become too much of a cult figure I didn't know who PG was until recently. I knew he was well respected on HN but I've never found that much value in his blog posts either. Maybe people like his writings in the light of his achievements, rather than for their intrinsic values.

Abhinav2000 6y ago
That’s exactly it. Everybody would dream to have his life and his blogs do give a vivid imagery that makes you feel good and believe you can do the same (plus with YC actually giving some hope). But I’ve learnt a lot more from others, who are not nearly as successful.
- whitepoplar 6y ago
  Who are some of the other people you've learned a great deal from? I'm curious!
  - mastazi 6y ago
    I'm not parent but - it might be people that are close to them IRL and not well known online. Personally, it was like that for me. However unlike parent, I also feel like I get a lot of value from reading PG
dang 6y ago
His essays were what attracted people to YC (and HN) in the first place.
- klanderson 6y ago
  This is true, I bought the "Hackers and Painters" book before discovering HN. Pretty inspiring at the time. This sort of interesting writing seems to have stopped in general. Spolsky and Yegge are other positive examples from that era, which of course is just 10 years ago.
darkerside 6y ago
There are many classic books and movies that people read now and say, what's the big deal? I've consumed tons of material that said this just as well if not better! What they, and you, fail to realize, is that after the copycats have come in, the pioneer looks outdated. But they are the ones standing on his shoulders, even if, with the benefit of hindsight, they've found more effective ways to spread the same message.
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
We used some of his essays in a freshmen writing class in college 7-ish years ago. I had no idea who he was at the time but the essays still made an impression. This was a liberal-arts school and the professor had no particular technology or business background; I’m still not sure how she came across them.

Abhinav2000 6y ago

That’s exactly it. Everybody would dream to have his life and his blogs do give a vivid imagery that makes you feel good and believe you can do the same (plus with YC actually giving some hope). But I’ve learnt a lot more from others, who are not nearly as successful.

whitepoplar 6y ago
Who are some of the other people you've learned a great deal from? I'm curious!
- mastazi 6y ago
  I'm not parent but - it might be people that are close to them IRL and not well known online. Personally, it was like that for me. However unlike parent, I also feel like I get a lot of value from reading PG

dang 6y ago

His essays were what attracted people to YC (and HN) in the first place.

klanderson 6y ago
This is true, I bought the "Hackers and Painters" book before discovering HN. Pretty inspiring at the time. This sort of interesting writing seems to have stopped in general. Spolsky and Yegge are other positive examples from that era, which of course is just 10 years ago.

darkerside 6y ago

There are many classic books and movies that people read now and say, what's the big deal? I've consumed tons of material that said this just as well if not better! What they, and you, fail to realize, is that after the copycats have come in, the pioneer looks outdated. But they are the ones standing on his shoulders, even if, with the benefit of hindsight, they've found more effective ways to spread the same message.

Wowfunhappy 6y ago

We used some of his essays in a freshmen writing class in college 7-ish years ago. I had no idea who he was at the time but the essays still made an impression. This was a liberal-arts school and the professor had no particular technology or business background; I’m still not sure how she came across them.