Elements of Style
Will Strunk Jr. & EB White
Summary
Advice on how to be a better writer
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Vigorous writing is concise
Do not join 2 independent clauses with a comma, use a semicolon
A colon can introduce a quotation that supports the preceding clause
Use the active voice
Don’t tell the reader what is not, tell the reader what is
If every sentence admits a doubt, your writing lacks authority. Be confident in your voice.
Use specific, definite, concrete language
A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences
Omit needless words
In summaries, keep to one tense
Use italics for titles
Don’t use ‘and/or, like, literally, nice.’
Style is an expression of self - approach it with plainness, simplicity, orderliness and sincerity
Place yourself in the background
Write in a way that comes naturally
Write with nouns and verbs, not adjectives and adverbs
Re read your writing and ruthlessly delete excess
Do no overwrite
Do not use ‘rather, very, little, pretty’
Avoid fancy words
Be clear
Your whole duty as a writer is to please and satisfy yourself and the true writer always to an audience of one
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Make Something Wonderful
Steve Jobs
Summary
The life of Steve Jobs in his own words
Rating: 5/5
Notes
Make something wonderful and put it out there
‘You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear’
When you’re a stranger in a place, you notice thing you don’t otherwise (Jobs after India trip)
Whenever you start with nothing, always shoot for the moon. You have nothing to lose.
You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times
Never be afraid to fail. You never achieve what you want without falling flat on your face a few times
We are never taught to listen to our intuitions, to develop and nurture them. But if you do pay attention to these subtle insights, you can make them come true
Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights others don’t see
Believe that some of what you follow with your heart will come back and make your life richer. And it will. And you will gain even firmer trust on your instincts and intuitions
Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.
The journey is the reward. The reward isn’t in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s in crossing the rainbow
To find A+ talent, if experienced, look at their track record and results
The world we know is a human creation and we can push it forward
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do (read whole ad ‘here’s to the crazy ones)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit - Aristotle
Hire people better than you are
You can’t plan to meet the people who will change your life
It’s impossible to connect the dots looking forward, but they make sense looking backwards so you have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you
***
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