“In presenting a mathematical argument the great thing is to give the educated reader the chance to catch on at once to the momentary point and take details for granted: two trivialities omitted can add up to an impasse). The unpractised writer, even after the dawn of a conscience, gives him no such chance; before he can spot the point he has to tease his way through a maze of symbols of which not the tiniest suffix can be skipped.” WayGivingTwoChanceReaderConscienceArgumentAddDetailsAccidentsGreat ThingsEducatedSpotsSymbolsGrantedMathematicalDawnPresentingTeaseMomentaryMazesTrivialityImpasse Author:John Edensor Littlewood
“To write and speak correctly is certainly necessary; but it is not sufficient. A derivation correctly presented in the book or on the blackboard may be inaccessible and uninstructive, if the purpose of the successive steps is incomprehensible, if the reader or listener cannot understand how it was humanly possible to find such an argument....” IfsWritingMayBookPurposeSpeakStepsReaderArgumentSufficientListenersInaccessibleBlackboard Author:George Polya
“It's easy to sell good news like this, and the authors confidently rely on classic fallacious arguments. They argue by declaration, which is what makes the books so amusing. In matter-of-fact, authoritative tones, the authors tell us how plants and human beings exchange energy - or they describe what angels look like, whether or how they're sexed, how they communicate with human beings, and how they differ from ghosts. Readers might be expected to wonder, How do they know?” KnowsHumansLooksBookMatterFactsMightEnergyEasyHuman BeingsWonderAtheismReaderNewsAngelArgumentSellsPlantCommunicatePositive AtheismExpectedArguingGhostClassicToneRelyDeclarationGood NewsAmusingMatter Of Fact Author:Wendy Kaminer
“Multitudes of words are neither an argument of clear ideas in the writer, nor a proper means of conveying clear notions to the reader.” MeanIdeasClearReaderArgumentNotionMultitudesConveying Author:Adam Clarke
“I believe that a work of art, like metaphors in language, can ask the most serious, difficult questions in a way which really makes the readers answer for themselves; that the work of art far more than an essay or a tract involves the reader, challenges him directly and brings him into the argument.” WayBelieveArtAsksLanguageI BelieveDifficultChallengesAnswersSeriousReaderArgumentMetaphorWorks Of ArtEssaysDifficult Questions Author:George Steiner
“You can do the best research and be making the strongest intellectual argument, but if readers don't get past the third paragraph you've wasted your energy and valuable ink.” IfsPastEnergyCan DoReaderIntellectualResearchArgumentThirdsValuableStrongestInkDo The BestParagraph Author:Carl Hiaasen
“There are some things fundamentally off about the stance of the book. And maybe that's okay; maybe every book is flawed, and great books, as flawed as they might be, articulate a moral argument that the reader then carries forward. The critique to this model is, of course, to ask: Should a book be ever so perfect that you come out of it with complete moral agreement that can be sustained?” ShouldBookMightCoursesAsksPerfectMoralReaderModelsArgumentOkayAgreementCarrieFlawedCritiqueStanceGreat Book Author:George Saunders
“I do insist on making what I hope is sense so there's always a coherent narrative or argument that the reader can follow.” LiteratureReaderArgumentNarrative Author:Howard Nemerov