Tyler Cowen's latest book The Great Stagnation was short too--might be a new trend, or a new old trend, as Cowen points out pamphlets used to be a more common way of discourse.
A short, clear volume full of insight is better than "writing to fill" or worse, "dumbing down" so that each chapter is a minor outline point talked up into drama. Looking forward to this one.
11 April 2011 at 23:10
Daniel said...
I agree with Mike Kenny and Brett Stevens, As Saint-Exupery famously said, "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
I'm about 20% of the way through the manuscript, and though I've read much of the core content before, in blog form here, I'm getting a lot out of it. Thanks, Mr. Charlton!
13 April 2011 at 06:20
*
Well, I have finished the draft of the PC Book (title undecided) - which is drawn mostly from this blog.
I'm reasonably happy with it except... it is only 24 thousand words... (cut down from about 90K).
Somehow I just can't write a real book.
On the positive side, this one is set out in separate paragraphs, in an 'aphoristic' style, so it would make a (slim) book in length (in this respect rather like Wittgenstein's Tractatus - although probably not with all the numberings, and with more jokes...)
Any way, if regular commenters would like an rtf copy, then please e-mail me.
You can comment on the book if you wish, although I should warn that I will take about as much notice of the book comments as I do of the blog comments ;-)
- but seriously folks: THANK YOU.
It wouldn't (for what it is worth...) have happened without you.
"Book draft 'finished'"
4 Comments -
I hope that you managed to include a few words on the decline of black music from Scott Joplin to Dogg Shagga.
9 April 2011 at 15:18
Tyler Cowen's latest book The Great Stagnation was short too--might be a new trend, or a new old trend, as Cowen points out pamphlets used to be a more common way of discourse.
9 April 2011 at 21:04
A short, clear volume full of insight is better than "writing to fill" or worse, "dumbing down" so that each chapter is a minor outline point talked up into drama. Looking forward to this one.
11 April 2011 at 23:10
I agree with Mike Kenny and Brett Stevens, As Saint-Exupery famously said, "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
I'm about 20% of the way through the manuscript, and though I've read much of the core content before, in blog form here, I'm getting a lot out of it. Thanks, Mr. Charlton!
13 April 2011 at 06:20