On Writing Well by William Zinsser

This books talk about to write non-fiction in a way people would want to read it. Often when i read something that grabs my attention and which i feel like obsessively reading till the end, the writing feels so easy. But there is a lot of craft and effort behind making the writing feel like it's easy. And that is essentially what this book is all about. 

It lived up to all the hype and tremendous Amazon reviews that it carried. I found the book very useful. But i think i would need to re-visit the book a few times before it settles in properly inside me. 

One forgets that writing, like painting and sculpting, is a craft. Everyone can write but that does not mean they write well. You have to really keep at it, consistently, to be able to hone this craft. And knowledgeable readers will be able to recognise good writing when they see it. A thing that does not get enough attention is that, a good writer also develops his or her own voice. What this means is that -  firstly, it takes a lot of effort and self-reflection to find that voice; and secondly. not all good writing looks the same, the voice of a good writer is the unique flavor their writing carries. 

The one most important lesson for me that i take away from this book is - every article has to say something unique about the subject that it's written on. One has to think long and hard about this even before one starts to write. And often, as one writes, this 'something to say' can change in shape and size - and thats because writing is not just a physical act of putting words on paper, writing = thinking. 

Another thing that stuck with me from the book is how writing is essentially a solitary craft. It is a painstaking effort which the writer has to endure on their own, for hours and hours. This needs a lot of mental and i would say physical strength as well. 

I summarize below, for my benefit, the key learnings from the book:

For articles of faith while writing:

1. Clarity - be very clear on the message you want to delivery 
2. Simplicity - write about it simply
3. Brevity - use small words, show dont tell
4. Humanity - show that there is a human writing the words, say what you felt, show genuine emotions

Sone more advice that i have written down at the back of the book:

• Use active voice
• Use active verbs
• Show that there is a human writing
• Use short and strong words
• Show the regional roots that your language and style contain
• The reader has to feel that the writer was feeling good about writing the words that she is reading
• Think about - why do you want to write about what you want to write about?
• Never be afraid to break one long sentence into two short ones, or even three
• Think about - what is the piece really about?
• When a story tells you it's over, look for the exit. 

The one lesson that shows up again and again in the book is - write simply, reduce when you can. But the book misses to talk about the kind of writing where some amount of flourish is needed, i felt. 'Write simple' might not always work. But it is very difficult to land that flourish that right away. And most writers / aspiring writers would benefit more from the advice to write simply, Considering that, the book maybe lands a good balance.

Into the Wild by John Krakauer

Into the Wild is based on the life, and the eventual death, of Chris McCandless. Or Alex Supertramp, which is the name he gave himself. It tells a passionate story, and unravels many different aspects of Chris's life and the lives of the people he touched. But it tells it in a language which does not flow. Reading it feels like constantly coming across speed bumps in what one expects to be a smooth highway. The movie that is based on the book is better made. It flows, and one does not miss a single beat of the story.  I had watched the movie a long time back in college. It had made a deep impression on me, and i had it in my mind to read the book at some point. I thought it would unravel some more layers of Chris's life and his journeys.

The book does uncover facets of Chris's journey that the movie either did not go into or did not do enough justice to. For example, it adds more color the relationship between Chris and his father - which partly explains why Chris was the way he was. It also contains stories from people Chris met on his journey's, in their own words. But most importantly it talks about the books Chris carried with him, the passages he highlighted in those books, the notes he scribbled in the margins of those books. For me, these more than anything else vividly painted a picture of his mind and his thoughts. Via these, i thought i was able to know him better. And it made me think -  the books one admires and the passages one highlights carry such a strong impression of the person's character. It perhaps comes as close to capturing the person's soul as a personal diary. 

Reading through the book, i could not help but also reflect on how my impression of Chris has changed between when i watched the movie (when i was relatively young) to now (when i am approaching middle age). When i first watched the movie, i was really moved by Chri's passion and his ambition to fork a different path than what society expected from him. I think that partly reflected on my dissatisfactions with the college life then. Now, i wasn't as keenly moved by his story as i was then. Part of it is because the book throws light on some aspects that i did now know of before - the fact that Chris didn't even bother to carry a map of the place, the fact that even though he travelled all the way to Alaska to live 'in the wild' he was about 20 miles away from a very busy tourist highway, or the fact that he didn't do the necessary homework to understand how to live off of the land. But a part, and a major part, is that i have grown old. And it reflects on my impressions from Chri's stories. While once i was moved passionately, now i look at the story from a more practical point of view. 

But Chris's story still moved me. There is a lot in the story that still made me stop and reflect. And a practically written travel guide can never do that to you. A lonely planet book will not make you pause and reflect. It is only a passionate person that can leave a story strong enough for people to read it so many years after they have passed away, and get moved by it.