Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Salty K. Pickles's avatar

This is awesome, Dylan. Some suggestions:

"The Reader over Your Shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Prose" by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge. Makes a moral case for clarity of expression. Wish I'd read it decades ago.

"Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," by Gay Talese. Gorgeous piece of nonfiction writing.

Anything by Mencken. That guy knew how to write a goddamn sentence.

Expand full comment
Charlie D. Becker's avatar

Someday this will be a tremendously large and useful list, or maybe even a community. And I want to get in early with the first participatory comment and say: The Craft of Research by Booth is an excellent book. Super useful, written in a clear style that isn't too conversational. It is written in a way that an advanced high schooler could understand it, but I'm a decade into my academic career and still use/reference it regularly. I use it to teach an undergraduate research course. Beyond all this, it makes perhaps the best argument for "pure research" I've ever heard--in I think, chapter 3? Of the fifth edition? It outlines the difference between applied and pure research and gives a much needed full-chested celebration of how pure research is the one of the most intellectually rewarding activities any of us can engage in. I talk about it in issue nine of my newsletter: https://charliebecker.substack.com/i/57756334/the-importance-of-audience-and-the-merits-of-pure-research

Expand full comment
25 more comments...

No posts