trying to make peace with the idea that maybe my ideal writing format is the field guide (informing while informal, beginner-friendly, less about how cool I am and more about getting people excited about stuff)
just need to figure out how to make money being a silly little dilettante
@ingrid Actually though, I think there's a market for "how to think about X" books, especially small ones. Think "Oreilly pocket guide" but instead of reference, overview. Not necessarily introductory, though many would necessarily be, but distinctions and salient conflicts in things are so great to have.
@ingrid That book is one of the prides of my bookshelf.
@ingrid I was thinking the other day about how some of my favorite books are different in format from standard nonfiction, especially in being more straightforwardly (and sometimes elliptically) pedagogical, and I just think there’s a ton of value in that
@tim no shade to standard nonfiction--I love it! But it's not where I'm at I guess.
@ingrid There is absolutely *no* shame in this.
@ingrid that was Chris Marker’s ideal format too
@ingrid "getting people excited about stuff" is my favorite thing you do, especially when "people" is me.
one time a friend slipped up and sort of implied they didn't think Networks of New York was a "real" book and it has haunted me for years but the more I read "real" books on the subjects I'm into the more I'm like "this is not how I want to do it"