Paul Graham on the importance of writing and the thinking that underpins it:
… good writing is an illusion: what people call good writing is actually good thinking, and of course good thinkers are rare.
One of the many successful outcomes from the Masters in Multidisciplinary Design I founded at Belfast School of Art was the emphasis on reading, writing and thinking.
That emphasis stretched back to the Masters in Multidisciplinary Design, which I studied on at Glasgow School of Art. (I’m not ashamed to admit that I stole the name for Belfast’s Masters from Glasgow’s Masters.)
To this day, I’m always delighted when past graduates get in touch, years later, to recommend a book they’ve found useful.
As Graham notes: Good thinkers are rare.
You can bootstrap and level up your thinking by reading more, but reading in depth requires hard work and perseverance.
Few make this effort, so you can improve your prospects by being one of the few that do make the effort. It’s very simple, it’s just hard.
