All of chrono's Comments + Replies

chrono*50

Thousands of words every single day. But I'm a terrible writer. I've tried writing using all sorts of different stylistic devices, and even using Dionysian Imitatio, specifically metathesis exercises. Yet I find it virtually impossible when I have something I need to express, like a request, or an idea about aesthetic theory to convert that into something which is well written.

Are you dedicating as much time to reading good writing as you are to practicing it? 

3Three-Monkey Mind
What’s the causal mechanism behind “read good writing, and you’ll be able to write better”? I assume I’m already used to reading good writing, and I’m not going to pick up any additional techniques by mere passive osmosis anymore.
1CstineSublime
Excellent question but the answer is "No". I read a fair amount but also are most translations of Aristotle good writing? Probably not - Aristotle is famously obtuse. Is Wittgenstein good writing? I have no idea but also his writing is probably idiomatically suited to the content of the ideas he's trying to express. I was recently reading Seneca, is he a good writer? I used to read a lot of Nabokov who is certainly a good writer but that clearly did me no good.
chrono10

Thanks for the post. I didn't know about MacroFactor, and it seems like a great alternative to the all-too-popular MyFitnessPal. Do you (or anyone else) have a good recommendation for a food scale? Measuring individual ingredients, like those for a complex salad, for example, seems like a tedious task.

1nsokolsky
You don’t need to be more precise than 5 grams when measuring food so any scale will work. You also don’t need to measure low density foods like cucumbers or tomatoes - I would just enter a rough guesstimate into the app.
chrono21

The two other books in the series (particularly The Dark Forest)

I found the series to be a slog until about halfway through The Dark Forest, when jura Yhb Wv ragrerq pelbfgnfvf naq jbxr hc gjb uhaqerq lrnef yngre. After that, the series ramped up, and I couldn't stop reading.

chrono20

You're O.K. to read in publication order.

chrono10

This is really two books.

I'm in the camp that Seveneves is three books: disaster thriller to start, space-based intrigue in the middle, and fantastical science fiction at the end.

chrono30

For the people who live in the terminal, newsboat works well.

chrono30

I enjoy using Obsidian for its automatic syncing and intuitive mobile application. I'd happily use the git system outlined in your post if I didn't jot down as many notes (or reference links saved in files) on my phone as I do now.