If You Need Something Interesting to Read

Posted on March 8, 2007 by Editor in Chief, Pick The Brain | CATEGORIES: internet culture

Rummage through Paul Graham’s collected essays. I wrote about his piece on startups a week ago. Since then I’ve realized his writing covers a broad range that goes far beyond the tech industry.

Graham writes with an informal, meandering style that questions accepted beliefs and leads to surprising conclusions. When reading him, I don’t feel like I’m being preached to or instructed. It’s more like sharing a conversation with an old friend. Ideas are shared without egotism. The conclusion doesn’t matter, only finding the truth.

This style differentiates Graham from other writers. He isn’t trying to sell himself or an idea. He isn’t trying to build authority in a niche. This is a guy who’s already made it and just wants to discuss what’s on his mind.

Graham doesn’t try to think for you, he thinks with you. The essays are rather long, so set aside some time. Don’t try to skim. He goes on so many tangents that you’ll get lost.

My favorites so far:

  • Hiring is Obsolete – Graham takes a look at the way the business world is changing. Evidently people don’t do their best work in drab, uniform office buildings.
  • Is It Worth Being Wise? – An attempt at differentiating wisdom and intelligence and an investigation into how human evolution has changed the perception of both.
  • The Age of the Essay – An examination of how we’re taught to write in school and a prediction for the next era of individual expression.

If anyone takes the time to read any of the essays, please take a minute to leave your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to discuss.

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  • http://lyndonology.blogspot.com/ Lyndon

    Well you weren’t kidding when you said his essays were long. I wish I could discuss it in more detail with you, but I just couldn’t seem to finish them. Generally I prefer things that I read on the web to be short and to the point. I find with longer topics, I need them to be in printed form, so I can find some place comfortable to read them. Instead of staring at them on a monitor.

  • http://www.pickthebrain.com John Wesley

    Yeah, I know what you mean, maybe try printing out a copy if you can?

    If you are able to make it through, it’s really worth the investment.

  • http://www.chrisg.com/ Chris Garrett

    These articles make me wish I still had a commute. They would have been great to print out and read on the train. Could well be worth a bookmark to come back to later, great find – thanks for the tip :)

  • http://bwoods.wordpress.com Bradley Woods

    I really enjoyed The Age of Essay. Thanks for posting that!

  • Ted

    I’m here a few years late but I’m here. Just read the one on start-ups and it’s gotten me thinking. Time to nap and think about it more. Thanks for posting these here in a manner that was easy for me to find during random google searches =)

  • carissa

    the blog of unnecessary quotation marks

  • Marli

    To start off I began to read your essay about intelligence and wisdom. I must say the thoughts and opinions that where stated in the essay where intellectual but slightly vague. What I mean by vague is that even thought they where well thought out reasons and coverd a lot of what is known by others it has yet to explain that all people are different. Yes I understand your point of view and what u mean when you say that people are eather smart or wise. We’ll first off how can score and rate an intelligence level? There can be various types of intelligence! Although I could go more into detail on the subject I will not, but what I should make clear is that intelligence is indeed like working a muscle it must used in order to grow. But at the same time there is so much we have yet to learn about many many many things we have yet to master the potential knowledge that is out there!! I mean someone can study for years and will make them smart but yet are lacking the all around meaning of what we are really all about. Someone can study the earth but kno nothing of its people or someone could study the ocean but know nothing of what is hidden in the darkness. Someone could kno the history of the past world but kno nothing of how people truly lived. And most of all people could want to understand everything but can not contemplate nothingness. We can study our intire live and stengthin our mind and still kno only a limited amount. When I say there is more to learn as there is stars in the sky that is not to be taken lightly because we could kno everything about where we are but don’t see all the other possibilities the infinite has to offer. One thing I think about intelligence is that it can not be measured because its not just about what u learned but also if you are able to teach. To share what u can so that someone else has the knowledge that you gained with them so they can continue to learn more. I think a smart person know that they kno more then some in some ways but lack what another person know I think intelligence is sharing and working together because the potential that more then one person has is great!! As for wisdom it is gaining the optimism of not only the past but of what is to come and acting on it. Wisdom is much more then doing the right thing and having the answers to unknown questions its having not only intelligence but the capabilitie to understand more then just what is seen. It is looking at every aspect and doing what is best knowing that you could be wrong and learning from it if u are. Its taken what you kno with the thoughts of others and connecting them. To be wise is a rare thing indeed and involves much more then just a worldly opinion but also the other half of it the mystery of not only our whole universe but what lies beyond it. Although there is soooo much more to be said on this subject I will leave the rest for you to think about I mean that is the point of these discussions to stimulate the mind? :)

  • Alexandra

    Well, I just can’t disagree with Marli.
    She (or he, idk-forgive me, please, if I’m wrong;)) was trying to give us a good example of  essays.
    Am I wrong?

  • http://www.facebook.com/leo.emerson Leo Emerson

    lies we tell kids – awesome. so true, i’m 28 and i’ve been determined for a long time to find a way to be honest with my future kids, but word the truth in a way that it’s not traumatizing. with a little extra insight on the part of adults – and the realization that kids aren’t going to crumble into dust from some truth we think will scare them – i think the truth is almost always better. i mean afterall, pain is part of life and kids will experience it no matter what – and they forget about it faster than adults do. maybe if they experience a few moments of sadness or fear from realizing some of the truths we don’t tell them then getting the wrong GI-joe for christmas won’t set them off on a tantrum. i think emotional pain has a threshold – just like athletes who get tough from being jostled around all the time don’t bat an eye over a few cuts here and there, people who experience emotional trauma don’t fret over the small stuff. building a kid’s threshold early will make him better off in the long run.

  • http://www.facebook.com/leo.emerson Leo Emerson

    lies we tell kids – awesome. so true, i’m 28 and i’ve been determined for a long time to find a way to be honest with my future kids, but word the truth in a way that it’s not traumatizing. with a little extra insight on the part of adults – and the realization that kids aren’t going to crumble into dust from some truth we think will scare them – i think the truth is almost always better. i mean afterall, pain is part of life and kids will experience it no matter what – and they forget about it faster than adults do. maybe if they experience a few moments of sadness or fear from realizing some of the truths we don’t tell them then getting the wrong GI-joe for christmas won’t set them off on a tantrum. i think emotional pain has a threshold – just like athletes who get tough from being jostled around all the time don’t bat an eye over a few cuts here and there, people who experience emotional trauma don’t fret over the small stuff. building a kid’s threshold early will make him better off in the long run.

  • http://www.facebook.com/leo.emerson Leo Emerson

    lies we tell kids – awesome. so true, i’m 28 and i’ve been determined for a long time to find a way to be honest with my future kids, but word the truth in a way that it’s not traumatizing. with a little extra insight on the part of adults – and the realization that kids aren’t going to crumble into dust from some truth we think will scare them – i think the truth is almost always better. i mean afterall, pain is part of life and kids will experience it no matter what – and they forget about it faster than adults do. maybe if they experience a few moments of sadness or fear from realizing some of the truths we don’t tell them then getting the wrong GI-joe for christmas won’t set them off on a tantrum. i think emotional pain has a threshold – just like athletes who get tough from being jostled around all the time don’t bat an eye over a few cuts here and there, people who experience emotional trauma don’t fret over the small stuff. building a kid’s threshold early will make him better off in the long run.

  • Blizzard632

    hello