Writing without bullshit
by Josh Bernoff · first published 2016
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Practical guide to cutting bloated, vague business prose; teaches clarity and purpose, including frontloading the main point. Suits managers and anyone writing for work, including technical writers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Writing Without Bullshit is the first comprehensive guide to writing for today's world: a noisy environment where everyone reads what you write on a screen. The average news story now gets only 36 seconds of attention. Unless you change how you write, your emails, reports, and Web copy don't stand a chance. In this practical and witty book, you'll learn to front-load your writing with pithy titles, subject lines, and opening sentences. You'll acquire the courage and skill to purge weak and meaningless jargon, wimpy passive voice, and cowardly weasel words. And you'll get used to writing dire
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Here, here. FWIW, "Writing Without Bullshit" by Josh Bernoff (Harper Business, 2016) tackles this truth head-on. I liked what I saw when I took a look at my local bookstore and it's gotten excellent user reviews on AMZN. It'd make a great gift…
on “Undervalued Engineering Skills: Writing Well” ↗Not a book on technical writing per se, but Writing Without Bullshit (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0062477153) can bring immense clarity and purpose to your writing. De-bloating prose is essential to good technical writing, and this book teaches you that.
on “Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?” ↗Reading it reminded me of a book "Writing without bullshit" which adds a few more concepts to what op shared. Frontloading information is my favorite, where instead of building to the core conclusion you start with it and then expand. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28448362-writing-without...
on “On Writing Well” ↗Three books: * Nonviolent Communication * Crucial Conversations * Writing Without Bullshit
on “Ask HN: Which tools have made you a much better programmer?” ↗I found "Writing Without Bullshit" helpful. https://withoutbullshit.com/book
on “Ask HN: Any great books about technical writing?” ↗