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comment by veen
veen  ·  2154 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: veen’s reviews #1: Conspiracy by Ryan Holiday

To be honest, I had been thinking about doing something like this for quite a long time. But until now, I didn't feel like I had enough meat to write something interesting. Sebastian Junger once said that a writer's block in nonfiction isn't about not finding the right words, it's about not having the right ammunition to have some confidence in your writing. Having semidecent notes was the activation energy I needed to actually sit down and write something up.

I discussed the note system in here:

My current system is that I throw any notes into Google Keep with one of five labels: (Life) Advice, Book Notes, Interesting Thoughts, Recommendations, and Tracking (for specific info I want to track, like energy meter readings). Once a week I haul them over to a bigger file, grouping my book notes by book. I'm also thinking of adding a Diary label.

    I’m curious why Holliday wrote this book. Based on his reading newsletters, I would think he’d be writing a stoic quote book or a biography of Marcus Aurelius.

I'm pretty sure he's also doing that. Part of why he wrote this book is because Thiel actually approached him for it. Part was because he realized early on that he had something uniquely intriguing thrown into his lap.