I’ve been an avid reader of science fiction since childhood. My path to it was a little unusual. I loved science books, especially Isaac Asimov’s sparkling nonfiction. When I ran out of that, I found out Asimov wrote (science) fiction books. That turned me on Clarke, Heinlein, Pohl, Dick, and the rest of those hard…
People share nearly anything online these days — including things that no one would ever have considered sharing publicly years ago. People post about their problems with lovers, their medical problems, their political attitudes, their struggles and triumphs with religion, and their fights with merchants. The express opinions on the mental acuity of presidential candidates,…
I never write anything without the thread in mind. What is the thread? It is the throughline of any blog post, essay, or book chapter. Start with the end in mind. What is the point? Write the title and the lede based on that. Then, the setup. What is the problem? What is have I…
Newsletter 34: Who tells the truth, authors back a new publishing model, Spotify’s audiobook subscription, plus three people to follow, three books to read, and chance to meet other authors in Northern Cal. Says who? Trump advisor Steve Bannon once described his communications strategy this way: “The real opposition is the media. And the way…
People making a point tend to cite statistics. And with simple tools like SurveyMonkey, anyone can create a poll. But if you don’t know how statistics really work, you can seem like a fool. I don’t trust people who use statistical tools in a misleading way. Do you? What’s wrong with this poll on LinkedIn?…
If you are writing about data, you have a choice to make: singular or plural. Singular: The data is so persuasive that only one conclusion is possible. Plural: The data are so persuasive that only one conclusion is possible. Both are correct, depending on the audience Colloquially, most people speak about “data” as a singular…
A little more than 25 years ago, I found myself crowded into cramped hotel suite with Mike Ramsay and Tim Barton, the founders of a startup called TiVo. I was the media-industry analyst at Forrester, and they were eager to demonstrate a new TV set-top box and get me to talk about it. That demo…
With advertisers paying $7 million per 30 seconds, Super Bowl ads are among the most expensive branding opportunities available. But do they work? If you watched the game on Sunday, take the quiz below. Write down your answers on a piece of paper. The point isn’t whether you remembered the ad. The point is, do…
There is awesome writing. There is just okay writing that does the job. And then there is writing that makes you stop and say, “What in hell is going on here?” In an article about what’s to become of the venerable Boston tourist trap that is the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston Globe writer Dana Gerber…