4 ms·

Do longer sentences mean better ideas, or are they just circumlocutions and embellishments? I can certainly believe that today's readers demand shorter sentence

by lmm 1y ago

Do longer sentences mean better ideas, or are they just circumlocutions and embellishments? I can certainly believe that today's readers demand shorter sentences and books that express their thesis clearly and simply. I would need more evidence to believe they're wrong to.

raincole 1y ago
I honestly believe the problem of books of our time is that they're still too long. By at least a factor of 2. Books are 200 pages long not because they have 200 pages of content to say, but because there is no business model for publishing physical books of 50 to 100 pages long. We see the more is better mentality everywhere in marketing. On Udemy, instructors flaunt how many hours of videos their courses have. On Steam, we see "X levels, Y different enemies, Z characters" all the time. In OP article: > Open the Victorian bestseller “Modern Painters” by John Ruskin and you will find that its first sentence is 153 words long As if this is a good thing.
- xnx 1y ago
  Strong cosign to this. You can't "monetize" a 70 page book. Unnecessarily long books are just as bad as 10 minute YouTube videos that could've been 90 seconds.
croon 1y ago
My 7 year old told my 5 year old the other day that his teeth would fall out if he didn't brush his teeth twice daily. She's also said that the king has no power because we have a parliament and a PM and elections. You and I both know these are generally correct, but we also both know that they're not. I generally, without shutting her down, interject with nuances and exceptions and minute details and 5 minutes later they have both stopped listening, which is fine. Kids need clear simple truths and rules, even if there are exceptions. And as they get older, they can start learning the nuances and enjoy navigating the exceptions and maybe have ice cream late on a wednesday once in a blue moon, and their teeth wont fall out. If adults never grow beyond a binary mindset and demand shorter ideas despite this meaning incomplete or wholly broken ideas, we have already lost. It's no wonder selling simple solutions to complex problems is so successful in politics today, but you will never solve anything by lossily compressing complex reality into incomplete or wrong solutions. TL;DR: <Won't Fix>
- lmm 1y ago
  I agree that we need nuanced ideas and detailed explanations. I'm not yet convinced that longer sentences help with that.
  - athenot 1y ago
    When expressing nuanced ideas, a series of short sentences is harder to follow. Not always but often. The short sentences are less connected. The connection between those sentences comes across flat. Nuanced ideas apply different weight to different concepts. Generally, when expressing nuanced ideas, a series of short sentences doesn't convey weighting of concepts as fluidly as a longer sentence which can paint a richer and more detailed picture with selective emphasis.

by lmm 1y ago

raincole 1y ago

I honestly believe the problem of books of our time is that they're still too long. By at least a factor of 2. Books are 200 pages long not because they have 200 pages of content to say, but because there is no business model for publishing physical books of 50 to 100 pages long. We see the more is better mentality everywhere in marketing. On Udemy, instructors flaunt how many hours of videos their courses have. On Steam, we see "X levels, Y different enemies, Z characters" all the time. In OP article: > Open the Victorian bestseller “Modern Painters” by John Ruskin and you will find that its first sentence is 153 words long As if this is a good thing.

xnx 1y ago
Strong cosign to this. You can't "monetize" a 70 page book. Unnecessarily long books are just as bad as 10 minute YouTube videos that could've been 90 seconds.

croon 1y ago

My 7 year old told my 5 year old the other day that his teeth would fall out if he didn't brush his teeth twice daily. She's also said that the king has no power because we have a parliament and a PM and elections. You and I both know these are generally correct, but we also both know that they're not. I generally, without shutting her down, interject with nuances and exceptions and minute details and 5 minutes later they have both stopped listening, which is fine. Kids need clear simple truths and rules, even if there are exceptions. And as they get older, they can start learning the nuances and enjoy navigating the exceptions and maybe have ice cream late on a wednesday once in a blue moon, and their teeth wont fall out. If adults never grow beyond a binary mindset and demand shorter ideas despite this meaning incomplete or wholly broken ideas, we have already lost. It's no wonder selling simple solutions to complex problems is so successful in politics today, but you will never solve anything by lossily compressing complex reality into incomplete or wrong solutions. TL;DR: <Won't Fix>

lmm 1y ago
I agree that we need nuanced ideas and detailed explanations. I'm not yet convinced that longer sentences help with that.
- athenot 1y ago
  When expressing nuanced ideas, a series of short sentences is harder to follow. Not always but often. The short sentences are less connected. The connection between those sentences comes across flat. Nuanced ideas apply different weight to different concepts. Generally, when expressing nuanced ideas, a series of short sentences doesn't convey weighting of concepts as fluidly as a longer sentence which can paint a richer and more detailed picture with selective emphasis.