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I find Paul Graham's writing style to be a bit off. I think he is too overly reductive and simplistic in his use of language and imprecise in his choice of word

I find Paul Graham's writing style to be a bit off. I think he is too overly reductive and simplistic in his use of language and imprecise in his choice of words, and I genuinely don't understand the praise for his writing. You should read his work because these are the thoughts of a highly influential VC, not because they are gems of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Sometimes a longer, more nuanced word has all the right connotations, and sometimes a more complex sentence carries the perfect rhetorical structure. Paul Graham's writing seems to ignore (or perhaps purposely eschew) such details.

kayodelycaon 1y ago
Same. I always get the feeling his ideas aren’t sufficiently thought through or communicated well enough to be actually be useful. On the other hand, I may know too much about what he writes about to benefit from it. Which means I’m not the target audience. And I don’t say this to sound smart. I’m a generalist. I know a little about a lot. Plenty of people are far more intelligent than I am.
- deleted 1y ago
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monkeyelite 1y ago
> I think he is too overly reductive and simplistic I personally feel this is a great filter. The exceptions to the rule are obvious and don’t need to be stated. It increases the signal to noise ratio to leave them out. And the people that complain are signaling their inability to get into the author’s pov.
- pclmulqdq 1y ago
  A great author drags you into their PoV whether you want to see it or not.
  - monkeyelite 1y ago
    And a bad reader makes up concerns before even engaging with the authors ideas.
    - pclmulqdq 1y ago
      Wait, I'm not quite sure what point you're trying to make here. Is it that I commented about Paul Graham's writing style in response to a PG essay on writing style? Is that "making up concerns before even engaging with the author's ideas"? The whole point of the essay we're discussing is writing style, and in particular a set of suggestions he has based on his own work. It's valid to criticize someone for not giving a piece of writing a charitable read before criticising the author's style, but that does not seem to apply when the topic of the essay is the author's style. Writing style is largely about figuring out how to direct the reader to your ideas, so it seems axiomatic that any piece of writing that needs a high-effort charitable read is poorly written (this, by the way, is in TFA). As to your original point, being too vague also doesn't increase signal to noise ratio. It just lets you write as though a lot of noise is signal.
      - monkeyelite 1y ago
        > Is that "making up concerns before even engaging with the author's ideas"? I am responding to the point that pg’s writing is too reductionist. Comments on these articles often include “what about [obvious exception that distract from the main idea]”. These comments indicate they are trying to dismiss rather than understand (the author didn’t even consider my idea!) As an example, “San Francisco is wealthier than Bakersfield”. Almost certainly a bad reader will complain that this does not apply to every resident. But we all know what is meant. So my general takeaway is that making broad statements without qualification can be a strength, because you filter out bad readers who aren’t interested in big ideas. And catering to them (who cannot be satisfied) only worsens the experience for your interested audience. This itself is of course a broad statement with exception.
        pclmulqdq 1y ago

kayodelycaon 1y ago

Same. I always get the feeling his ideas aren’t sufficiently thought through or communicated well enough to be actually be useful. On the other hand, I may know too much about what he writes about to benefit from it. Which means I’m not the target audience. And I don’t say this to sound smart. I’m a generalist. I know a little about a lot. Plenty of people are far more intelligent than I am.

deleted 1y ago
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monkeyelite 1y ago

> I think he is too overly reductive and simplistic I personally feel this is a great filter. The exceptions to the rule are obvious and don’t need to be stated. It increases the signal to noise ratio to leave them out. And the people that complain are signaling their inability to get into the author’s pov.

pclmulqdq 1y ago
A great author drags you into their PoV whether you want to see it or not.
- monkeyelite 1y ago
  And a bad reader makes up concerns before even engaging with the authors ideas.
  - pclmulqdq 1y ago
    Wait, I'm not quite sure what point you're trying to make here. Is it that I commented about Paul Graham's writing style in response to a PG essay on writing style? Is that "making up concerns before even engaging with the author's ideas"? The whole point of the essay we're discussing is writing style, and in particular a set of suggestions he has based on his own work. It's valid to criticize someone for not giving a piece of writing a charitable read before criticising the author's style, but that does not seem to apply when the topic of the essay is the author's style. Writing style is largely about figuring out how to direct the reader to your ideas, so it seems axiomatic that any piece of writing that needs a high-effort charitable read is poorly written (this, by the way, is in TFA). As to your original point, being too vague also doesn't increase signal to noise ratio. It just lets you write as though a lot of noise is signal.
    - monkeyelite 1y ago
      > Is that "making up concerns before even engaging with the author's ideas"? I am responding to the point that pg’s writing is too reductionist. Comments on these articles often include “what about [obvious exception that distract from the main idea]”. These comments indicate they are trying to dismiss rather than understand (the author didn’t even consider my idea!) As an example, “San Francisco is wealthier than Bakersfield”. Almost certainly a bad reader will complain that this does not apply to every resident. But we all know what is meant. So my general takeaway is that making broad statements without qualification can be a strength, because you filter out bad readers who aren’t interested in big ideas. And catering to them (who cannot be satisfied) only worsens the experience for your interested audience. This itself is of course a broad statement with exception.
      - pclmulqdq 1y ago