Choosing what to leave out

Choosing what to leave out

Lately, lot of attention has been on how computers write. For a change, some reflections on how humans write. Well, not any human. John McPhee, 92 years old, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and a pioneer in narrative non-fiction, on the craft of greening and on taking inspiration from icebergs. Wonderful piece.

Favourite quote: «If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them.»


From Weekly Filet #441, in May 2023.

💔 Some older links might be broken — that's the state of the web, sadly. If you find one, ping me.

Make sense of what matters, today and for the future.

Every Friday, carefully curated recommendations on what to read, watch and listen to. Trusted by thousands of curious minds, since 2011.

Undecided? Learn more | Peek inside