【Writing】Learning about writing from Paul Graham

In a nutshell

1. Paul Graham, a former ViaWeb entrepreneur (acquired by Yahoo in '98) and current Y Combinator investor, is a leading figure in the current startup industry.
2. His experiences as an engineer and with startups are compiled in the form of essays. A book titled "Hackers & Painters" has also been published.
3. gonjitti references Paul Graham's writing style. He especially refers to "Develop a nose for bad writing. Then you can fix the bad parts of your own writing" and "Imitate your favorite writers."

Paul Graham, a former ViaWeb entrepreneur (acquired by Yahoo in '98) and current Y Combinator investor, is a leading figure in the current startup industry

One of my long-time favorite people is the hacker/entrepreneur/essayist Paul Graham.

He has a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Cornell University and a master's degree in computer science from Harvard University, and is a Lisp programmer. In 1995, he founded the company Viaweb. ViaWeb was famous as the world's first ASP, but it was acquired by Yahoo in '98 and later became Yahoo Store. He then began writing essays on his website paulgraham.com, and his essays gained a reputation in the United States and were published in book form as "Hackers & Painters."

In 2005, he founded Y Combinator, which operates a seed VC + incubation office that supports startups. Unicorns such as Reddit, Airbnb, Dropbox, and Stripe have been born from his company.

His experiences as an engineer and with startups are compiled in the form of essays. A book titled "Hackers & Painters" has also been published.

His engineering experience (including his childhood as a nerd) and his tough experiences with startups are brilliantly summarized in the form of essays. Japanese translations are also actively being done, and a summary of Japanese translations of his essays can be found below. naoya_t:Paul Graham's Essays and Japanese Translations

In addition, the book "Hackers & Painters," which is a collection of his essays, has also been published and is loved by many people involved in startups.

gonjitti references Paul Graham's writing style. He especially refers to "Develop a nose for bad writing. Then you can fix the bad parts of your own writing" and "Imitate your favorite writers."

gonjitti references Paul Graham's writing style. His writing is extremely clear and has the characteristic of cutting into cruel facts without embellishment, and the refreshing feeling after reading is wonderful (it is also amazing that the exhilarating feeling is not lost in either the original English or the Japanese translation).

From his essay introducing his writing style, I especially refer to two points.

Develop a nose for bad writing. Then you can fix the bad parts of your own writing.

Bad writing has patterns. I often have a tendency to include the same word in one sentence. I'll also introduce "The New Writing Class." It has a wealth of examples of bad writing, and you can learn both good and bad patterns. The New Writing Class: Natalie-Style Training to Turn Your Weaknesses into Strengths (Dekiru Business)

Imitate your favorite writers.

In my case, it's Kenzo Kitakata. Details in another article.

Japanese translation of "Writing, Briefly"

References

• Hackers & Painters (Paul Graham/Ohmsha)','This is a collection of his essays. It's a collection of his masterpieces, so please give it a read.

• Paul Graham's Writing Style','http://blog.livedoor.jp/lionfan/archives/52681824.html

• Paul Graham's Blog (English)','http://www.paulgraham.com/

• The New Writing Class: Natalie-Style Training to Turn Your Weaknesses into Strengths (Dekiru Business) ','This is the book on writing that I refer to the most. It introduces various techniques with the perspective of first being aware that what you have written will be read, and then cutting out bad writing.

Aside (Recommended Book)

A recommended design book. It's packed with design tips that you can use forever. I use it often myself.