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OpenSeesing as if Readers Matter

Original Post - 15 Nov 2024 - Michael H. Scott

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I am always on the lookout for books on academic writing. So, over the summer, when I heard about Leonard Cassuto’s Academic Writing as if Readers Matter ahead of its release, I set a reminder to order a copy when the book came out.

ACADEMIC WRITING AS IF READERS MATTER

The book arrived in early October, but I haven’t finished reading it–which really means I read the first few pages then got distracted.

Anyway, I imagine the book is a kinder, gentler, more instructive form of Steven Pressfield’s Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh!t–which, to be clear, is not a book on academic writing but is a book every academic needs to read.

Paraphrasing the back cover of Cassuto’s book, you have to earn the reader’s time and attention. This message is consistent with Pressfield’s thesis that everyone is busy and you asking strangers to give up their time to read uninteresting work is non-sense.

So, until I resume and after I finish reading Cassuto’s book, I’ll keep on OpenSeesing as if readers matter. I know not every post is interesting, but I’ve at least earned your attention.