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PaperclipPerfector  27d ago (text post)   2006 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 31, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Would a sufficiently detailed table of contents satisfy you? Assuming reasonably descriptive chapter and section headings of course.

Especially if there is also a table of figures and list of tables, it seems pretty straight forward to flip through and see how familiar/tractable the content will be.

I do think there is a place for bullets sometimes, but bullets can also be symptomatic of a sort of powerpoint syndrome.

Powerpoint-style presentations somehow give permission to gloss over ideas, flatten out any sense of relative importance, and ignore the innerconnectedness of ideas.

If you could get the full argument a book makes from reading a bulleted list is there really a point in the book?

Or along the same lines there is the classic:

... bullet outlines can make us stupid

Ultimately arguing that poor use of bulleted lists contributed to the loss of shuttle Columbia.

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