andrew_gelman_stats andrew_gelman_stats-2011 andrew_gelman_stats-2011-886 knowledge-graph by maker-knowledge-mining
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Introduction: I read the excerpt in n+1. As one would expect of DeWitt, it was great, while being nothing at all like her other book. THe new book reminded me a bit of Philip K. Dick. Here’s a brief excerpt (which is not actually particularly PKD-like) of the main character talking to himself: “I don’t have what it takes,” he said. He had never said it before because saying it would be like admitting he couldn’t make the grade. I’m not pulling out this quote to sell you on the book. The lines just struck me because of the exquisite distinctions, the idea that “don’t have what it takes” is somehow different than “couldn’t make the grade,” the idea that this character, who expresses his thoughts in empty phrases, ends up assigning to these phrases a set of precise meanings that make sense only to him. One reason Lightning Rods was so fun and refreshing to read is that it’s a non-formula novel that, unlike ChabonFranzenLethemBakerEtc—and, for that matter, unlike Virginia Woolf—is about c
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1 Here’s a brief excerpt (which is not actually particularly PKD-like) of the main character talking to himself: “I don’t have what it takes,” he said. [sent-5, score-0.618]
2 He had never said it before because saying it would be like admitting he couldn’t make the grade. [sent-6, score-0.065]
3 I’m not pulling out this quote to sell you on the book. [sent-7, score-0.063]
4 One reason Lightning Rods was so fun and refreshing to read is that it’s a non-formula novel that, unlike ChabonFranzenLethemBakerEtc—and, for that matter, unlike Virginia Woolf—is about character and story and ideas, not about the author. [sent-9, score-0.675]
5 I had a similar feeling after reading Deliverance , a book that otherwise has just about nothing in common with either of DeWitt’s. [sent-11, score-0.188]
6 The only thing I’m wondering about that Lightning Rods excerpt is why it appeared in n+1 rather than the Atlantic or the New Yorker. [sent-12, score-0.394]
7 I think n+1 is great, but those other mags must pay a lot more and also give more visibility. [sent-13, score-0.155]
8 (These are the only two general-interest magazines I know of that regularly run fiction. [sent-14, score-0.14]
9 ) DeWitt is famous, the excerpt is hilarious and thought-provoking, so it would seem to be a natural for the Atlantic or the New Yorker. [sent-15, score-0.462]
10 Perhaps some bit of path dependence: for some reason the book isn’t being published by a major commercial publisher, so they don’t have the publicity machine behind it, so they couldn’t place it in the top places, etc. [sent-16, score-0.286]
11 In the long run it probably doesn’t matter—DeWitt is well-enough known that people will find her new book. [sent-17, score-0.2]
12 My impression from reading the published story is that DeWitt must have worked really hard on this. [sent-19, score-0.272]
13 As an author of books, I find it tough enough to write coherently in my own voice, and it must be so much harder to write in someone else’s. [sent-20, score-0.446]
14 I admire this because I can’t write in anyone else’s voice. [sent-21, score-0.074]
15 This isn’t an absolutely necessary skill for a writer—Bernard Shaw couldn’t really do it either, but he could reconstruct others’ thoughts , which I think I can do pretty well too—but I think it’s pretty good if you can do it, it gives a three-dimensional character to your writing. [sent-22, score-0.441]
16 Anyway, there must have been days when DeWitt could just whip out page after page of the stuff, but even then she probably had to go back and clean it all up. [sent-23, score-0.376]
17 I’m glad she put in the effort; the finished product was just great, and I’m looking forward to reading the whole novel (also a little bit afraid it won’t live up to the promise of the excerpt). [sent-24, score-0.385]
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Introduction: Helen DeWitt writes about The Ask, the new book by Sam Lipsyte, author of a hilarious book I read a couple years ago about a loser guy who goes to his high school reunion. I haven’t read Lipsyte’s new book but was interested to see that he teaches at Columbia. Perhaps I can take him to lunch (either before or after I work up the courage to call Gary Shteyngart and ask him about my theory that the main character of that book is a symbol of modern-day America). In any case, in the grand tradition of reviewing the review, I have some thoughts inspired by DeWitt, who quotes from this interview : LRS: I was studying writing at college and then this professor showed up, a disciple of Gordon Lish, and we operated according to the Lish method. You start reading your work and then as soon as you hit a false note she made you stop. Lipsyte: Yeah, Lish would say, “That’s bullshit!” If they did this for statistics articles, I think they’d rarely get past the abstract, most of the ti
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Introduction: The commenting feature doesn’t work for me on Helen DeWitt’s blog so I’m forced to comment on her entries here. 1. She discusses whether it’s fair to characterize The Last Samurai . I have a slightly different perspective on this: I’ve never really understood the idea that a “beach read” should be something light and fluffy. On the beach, you can relax, you have the time to get into anything. I could see wanting something light on the subway–you have to be able to get into it right away and follow it amid all the jostles. I guess the point is that when you’re at the beach, you’re far from the library. So what you really want for the beach is not necessarily something relaxing or easy to read, but rather a sure thing , a known quantity that you’ll definitely enjoy. No point sitting on the beach reading a book that you hate. 2. In an interesting discussion of translation, DeWitt recommends learning a language by reading great literature in the original tongue. Seems f
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Introduction: Helen DeWitt links to an interview with Seth Godin, who makes some commonplace but useful observations on jobs and careers. It’s fine, but whenever I read this sort of thing, I get annoyed by the super-aggressive writing style. These internet guys–Seth Godin, Clay Shirky, Philip Greenspun, Jeff Jarvis, and so on–are always getting in your face, telling you how everything you thought was true was wrong. Some of the things these guys say are just silly (for example, Godin’s implication that Bob Dylan is more of a success than the Monkees because Dylan sells more tickets), other times they have interesting insights, but reading any of them for awhile just sets me on edge. I can’t take being shouted at, and I get a little tired of hearing over and over again that various people, industries, etc., are dinosaurs. Where does this aggressive style come from? My guess is that it’s coming from the vast supply of “business books” out there. These are books that are supposed to grab yo
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Introduction: Johnny Carson had this great trick where, after a joke bombed, he’d do such a good double-take that he’d end up getting a huge laugh. This gimmick could never have worked as his sole shtick—at some point, Johnny had to tell some good jokes—but it was a reliable way to limit the downside. For the purpose of our discussion here, the point is that, even when the joke failed, Carson had a way out. I thought of this today after following a link from a commenter that led to this blog on publicity-minded author Tim Ferriss. I’ve never read anything by Ferriss but I’ve read about him on occasion: his gimmick is he promotes his book using ingenious marketing strategies. Sort of like how Madonna is famous for being famous, and Paris Hilton is famous for being famous for being famous, Ferriss is famous for self-promotion. Matt Metzgar writes : I [Metzgar] saw a bunch of ads on the internet today for Tim Ferriss’ new book. Even though the book was released today, it already has all
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Introduction: I was reading a book of Alfred Kazin’s letters—I don’t know if they’d be so interesting to someone who hadn’t already read a bunch of his stuff , but I found them pretty interesting—and came across this amazing bit, dated August 11, 1957: No, really, Al. Tell us what you really feel. This was in his private diary, so I can’t really criticize him for it. And all of us have private thoughts, sometimes publicly expressed, that are unworthy of our better self. For example, once I was crossing a street and a taxi driver came dangerously close, and I screamed at him, “Go back to your own country, you #&@#%*^&.” So I’m not claiming that I’m any better than Kazin. I just thought that quote was pretty amazing. I guess that’s how (some) people thought, back in the fifties. Also interesting that he wrote “ass-hole” in that context. The hyphen surprised me, also I don’t think people would use that word in this way anymore. Nowadays I think of an asshole as a person, not a place.
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Introduction: Jemes Keirstead sends along this infographic : He hates it: First we’ve got an hourglass metaphor wrecked by the fact that “now” (i.e. the pinch point in the glass) is actually 3-5 years in the future and the past sand includes “up to three years” in the future. Then there are the percentages which are appear to represent a vertical distance, not volume of sand or width of the hourglass. Add to that a strange color scheme in which green goes from dark to light to dark again. I know January’s not even finished yet, but surely a competitor for worst infographic of 2013? Keirstead doesn’t even comment on what I see as the worst aspect of the graph, which is that the “3-5 years” band is the narrowest on the graph, but expressed as a per-year rate it is actually the highest of all the percentages. The hourglass visualization does the astounding feat of taking the period where the executives expect the highest rate of change and presenting it as a minimum in the graph.
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