HN Books @HNBooksMonth

People who dig this deck may dig this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Clear-Simple-Truth-Writing-Classic/dp...

The best single book I've ever read on writing well. Had a big impact on me outside of writing, too.

⬐ shanusmagnus

It's too late to edit my comment, but as long as we're talking about it, I just read this article linked earlier today on HN, and it's such a lovely example of the classical style:

https://www.residentcontrarian.com/p/what-does-shitty-job-me...

The author is clearly trying to give the reader what he/she knows about this subject, clearly and simply. It is straightforward, a delight to read, and an inspiration.

⬐ V__

Looks interesting. May I ask what would be the most valuable lesson you got out of it?

⬐ shanusmagnus

The most enduring lesson was an attitudinal shift toward the reader. The book's stance is that the reader is capable of and interested in understanding whatever it is that you want to say, and your job is not to dazzle her, or persuade her, but rather to provide her the conceptual building blocks to conclude what you have yourself concluded.

After reading the book I realized that, without ever having consciously decided to, I had been writing at least a little bit to signal how smart and creative and insightful I was, vs trying to communicate effectively. This was a revelation, and not a happy one -- so much misdirected vanity, to so little purpose!

⬐ RivieraKid

Or him.

Style in writing is about standpoint. Where are you coming from?

Leading with:

> Google Cloud Platform delivers the industry's best technical and differentiated features

Is clearly the standpoint of someone trying to convince you of something and the tone certainly put my hackles up. It's often more effective [1] to adopt the position of someone sharing what they find most interesting about a topic.

Instead of:

> How can a cloud platform be both Better AND Cheaper? > Easy: it turns out that the same technology ...

Maybe something like:

> What's fascinating is that the same technology that allows cloud platform to perform better for these workloads also allows it to be cheaper.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Clear-Simple-Truth-Writing-Classic/dp/...

⬐ milesward

disclaimer: i'm the OP and work for GCP

That completely makes sense to me, and yet runs in mild conflict with the feedback below where at least some users want us to do a bit more "selling". I've heard numerous times from customers and prospects that they'd like for GCP folks to just "spell it out and tell me why I should pick you", so this was my take at doing exactly that.

I'm definitely trying to convince you of something, but I don't want my/our tone to have you come away with a negative impression, or for you to read it as anything other than an excited nerd happy about his tools. Thanks for the feedback!

⬐ thruflo

You're backfilling your standpoint and it's working!

But yup, different forms for different audiences and this works well as supporting material for an investment in GCP.

⬐ milesward

blush

Would a little fun autobiography from folks on my team give the context/backfill required for us to make sense while being a little assertive?

Thanks for the book link, ordered up!