This may be subjective. For others (including me), it drives the irritation level higher and makes it harder to pay attention. Ranty writing fuels my own tenden

This may be subjective. For others (including me), it drives the irritation level higher and makes it harder to pay attention. Ranty writing fuels my own tendency to get annoyed and ranty; it makes me want to disengage to preserve my own mood. ("Holub on Patterns" is one example of a book I couldn't finish because of this quality of the writing.) Personally for me, concise and information-dense writing makes me sit up and pay attention.