Gurteen Knowledge Blog December 5, 2021, 11:18Jordan Peterson recently tweeted: The best way to teach people critical thinking is to teach them to write because there’s no difference between that and thinking. Credit: Jordan Peterson I would disagree that there is no difference, but writing certainly forces me to assess my ideas critically. When I write … Continue reading Writing Aids Critical Thinking What’s the difference between writing and critical thinking?
There seems to be a sort of fatality in my mind leading me to put at first my statement or proposition in a wrong or awkward form. Formerly I used to think about my sentences before writing them down; but for several years I have found that it saves time to scribble in a vile … Continue reading Scribbled Sentences Are Often Better Ones Than Those Written Deliberately Charles Darwin
If you’re thinking without writing, you only think you’re thinking. Credit: Leslie Lamport Posts where this quotation is embedded A Brief History of Knowledge 200,000 years of history Cicero’s Sermo ** … Conversation in Ancient Greek Society ** Socrates, Plato and Aristotle Conversational Post-project Reviews ** Crafting Writing That Drives Change Larry McEnerney’s insights on good writing Disagree Constructively How to … Continue reading If You’re Thinking Without Writing, You Only Think You’re Thinking Leslie Lamport
Gurteen Knowledge Blog March 30, 2024, 11:04Effective writing is crucial for driving change in today’s complex, information-overloaded world. However, conventional writing wisdom often fails to equip us to engage readers and make a real impact. Larry McEnerney, the retired director of the University of Chicago’s Writing Program, provides unconventional insights that offer a roadmap for crafting … Continue reading Rethinking Writing for a Complex World Larry McEnerney’s insights on good writing
The process of writing can be a powerful tool for self-discovery. Writing demands self-knowledge; it forces the writer to become a student of human nature, to pay attention to his experience, to understand the nature of experience itself. By delving into raw experience and distilling it into a work of art, the writer is engaging … Continue reading The Process of Writing Georg Buehler
The best way to gauge the quality of someone’s ideas isn’t to listen to them talking. It’s to read their writing. Compelling speakers can mask weak logic with strong charisma. Putting key points on a page exposes flawed reasoning. Compelling writing requires clear thinking. Credit: Adam Grant Source: X (Twitter)Posts where this quotation is embedded A … Continue reading The Best Way to Gauge the Quality of Someone’s Ideas Adam Grant (2024)
You think that writing is communicating your ideas to your readers. It is not. What is professional writing? Professional writing, what is it? It’s not conveying your ideas to your readers. It’s changing their ideas. Nobody cares what ideas you have. Credit: Larry McEnerney Comment: Larry stresses that the purpose of professional writing is to … Continue reading Changing Your Readers’ Ideas Larry McEnerney
The function of your writing is to move a conversation forward. Credit: Larry McEnerney Comment: Larry states that the role of writing is to propel the conversation forward. He emphasizes that writing cannot serve this purpose if it remains unpublished or hidden away in a desk drawer. The writer’s responsibility is to actively contribute to … Continue reading The Function of Your Writing Is to Move a Conversation Forward Larry McEnerney
If you do not know your readers, the particular people in a community, if you do not know these people, you are very unlikely to create value and you are very unlikely to be persuasive because persuasion depends on what they doubt. If you don’t know what they doubt, how on earth you’re gonna overcome … Continue reading Knowing Your Readers Larry McEnerney
Unlike a journalist, almost surely you are using your writing process to help yourself think. In other words, the thinking that you’re doing is at such a level of complexity that you have to use writing to help yourself do your thinking. Credit: Larry McEnerney Comment: Larry argues that, unlike the common belief that thinking … Continue reading You Have to Use Writing to Help Yourself Do Your Thinking Larry McEnerney
If it’s clear and useless, it’s useless. It’s organized and useless, it’s useless. It’s persuasive and useless, it’s useless. That’s the way it is. Credit: Larry McEnerney Source: The Craft of Writing Effectively | Larry McEnerneyPosts: Larry McEnerneyCrafting Writing That Drives Change Larry McEnerney’s insights on good writingQuotations: Larry McEnerneyChanging Your Readers’ Ideas Larry McEnerneyIf … Continue reading If It’s Clear and Useless – It’s Useless Larry McEnerney
Conventional writing wisdom is often misguided. Larry McEnerney, the retired director of the University of Chicago’s Writing Program, challenges outdated conceptions of good writing that can stifle bloggers and academic writers alike. His unconventional insights provide the key to engaging readers, making a compelling case, and achieving real impact through the written word. Larry McEnerney’s … Continue reading Crafting Writing That Drives Change Larry McEnerney’s insights on good writing
The advent of AI writing assistants like ChatGPT has led some to question whether writing by hand is still a critical skill. After all, why labor over crafting an essay when an AI tool can instantly generate one for you? However, the very act of writing — forming ideas into words on a page – … Continue reading Write to Think **
In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates shares the myth of Thamus and Theuth, questioning the invention of writing. Writing, he argues, weakens memory and offers the appearance of wisdom without true understanding. Socrates suggests that serious discourse using the dialectic method is a nobler pursuit, leading to genuine wisdom and happiness. Introduction When we think about humankind’s … Continue reading The Myth of Thamus and Theuth Does writing allow the pretense of understanding, rather than true understanding?