3 ms·
> Nobody (except many frustrated readers) is officially complaining that non-fiction writing is needlessly flowery and sprawling across many more pages than nec
by sriku 6y ago
> Nobody (except many frustrated readers) is officially complaining that non-fiction writing is needlessly flowery and sprawling across many more pages than necessary.
Actually people do (I do too). I find that many of these books take one point that can be expressed succinctly in a short blog post and labour on it for an entire book. So to read it for entertainment is ok, but to read them for information is .. an utter waste of time. I've even picked up some of these reputed books from a book shelf, just read the cover notes .. and realise later on that the author really didn't have much else to say. I'm sorting of ranting here, but .. this needs to stop and I agree with the OP on this matter. My complaint is not against the authors themselves though. Its against the sheer waste of resources and mind time that such books consume.
- nitwit005 6y agoOne of my pet theories is that this is driven by what sorts of things bookstores are willing to sell, and at what prices. If they will only sell book length works, you'd better pad your idea with 200 pages of fluff, and if you want to charge a lot, better make it a fancy hardcover. It used to be you could publish in a magazine, but those are near dead.
- ahartmetz 6y agoLooking at you, Nassim Taleb and "Antifragile". He even states that he hates editors in the book. The book has interesting things to say but they are kind of drowned in the rambling.