I already didn’t care to read this given Rand’s love affair with laissez-faire capitalism but figured that given it was a book on writing nonfiction, it would be a non-issue. Unfortunately, the book had a whole other set of problems - mostly due to editing - as the book is a reconstruction of Rand’s lectures on the subject. The first half was interesting but then it started to become repetitive; again poor editing.

Buku ini merupakan koleksi syarahan Ayn Rand yang dibukukan. Ia disusun mengikut tema dari bab memilih subjek, membentuk kerangka (outline) penulisan, mengaplikasikan falsafah tanpa berceramah mengenainya, proses penyuntingan sehinggalah kepada proses menulis buku, menulis ulasan buku, mencari idea dan memilih judul buku.

Dalam buku ini, Ayn Rand mengulas dengan cukup jernih dan jelas, mengenai tips-tips penting dalam penulisan bukan fiksyen.

Antara tips penting yang dititipkan ialah:

1. Perlu utamakan kejernihan (clarity) dalam penulisan berbanding lenggok bahasa, kosa kata dan istilah yang rumit.

2. Tulislah mengenai perkara yang kita benar-benar mahir dan kita ketahui dengan cukup mendalam dan meluas.

3. Proses berfikir dan mengumpul idea perlu diasingkan daripada proses penulisan supaya lebih banyak masa boleh dituangkan untuk menukang “tatabahasa” ketika proses menulis.

4. Kita perlu tahu lebih banyak daripada apa yang kita tuangkan di atas kertas. Untuk menulis sebuah buku, kita perlu mengetahui sekurang-kurangnya 10 buku mengenai topik tersebut supaya kita benar-benar selektif sewaktu menulis dan yakin mengenai tajuk yang kita kupas.

5. Ketika mencuplik “quotation”, perlu cuplik dengan istilah yang tepat dan tidak meleret. Batalkan hasrat tersebut sekiranya “quotation” itu panjang.

6. Ulas buku-buku agung kerana banyak gagasan dalam buku-buku agung yang tidak diangkat sewajarnya ke dalam fabrik masyarakat.

7. Ketika membuat resensi buku, ulas mengenai tiga perkara; i) “Nature” asal dan idea keseluruhan buku, ii) Kekuatan dan keunikan buku dan iii) Kelemahan buku.

8. Bentuk gaya penulisan yang tersendiri. Sewaktu kita bertemu dengan gaya penulisan yang indah, jangan plagiat. Cuba bentuk gaya penulisan kita yang tersendiri supaya lama kelamaan ianya sebati dalam karangan kita. Gaya penulisan itu dibentuk melalui praktis. (You acquire style by practicing).

Sekiranya anda meminati buku Dari Salina ke Langit Petang oleh SN A. Samad Said dan Karya Nan Indah oleh Faisal Tehrani, buku Ayn Rand ini turut menjanjikan kepuasan membaca yang hampir sama dengan kedua-dua buku tersebut.

This book is levels better than the other books about writing like Bird to Bird, it is precise and does not hesitate to state rules, without any clout of random feelings or expressions. It clearly states what she thinks is right and what she thinks is wrong and why, with a proper reasoning attached to it. I just loved the way the whole thing was handled. The author clearly states that writing needs to happen consciously, she also describes how it can be inculcated, at least the non-fiction, how you can understand the process and then become a writer and the importance of becoming a writer in this fashion i.e. with deliberate and explicit knowledge of the intermediate steps that are involved in the process as opposed to letting intuition take charge and going with the flow. Thats where the writer impressed me and moreover this book has not been written by Ayn Rand, it was actually extracted from her lectures by another woman, had it been written directly by Any Rand, we would have had a better understanding about her process, because she would have been able to put them in better words and in better sequences as opposed to a third party. This book is in the level of Stephen King's book - Writing: On Memoirs of a Craft; This book is a must read for anyone trying to compose articles, it has clear rules about style, clarity, precision, brevity, color, reporting, showing, telling, vocabulary, grammar and every aspect that is involved in composing an article along with editing, reviewing, theory, outlining, revising, ordering, punctuations, drafts, final versions, publishing and many others discussed at length. i just loved the way each one of them have been addressed. I just felt at one with the author. After reading a series of books which do not deserve a single star rating, I read this book and I has been able to revive my faith in good books. This has also helped me with my research about deciphering writers and writing. As I go through the explicit process of creating a writer out of myself, this book is one more milestone. But, during the process of rationality often Any Rand's objectivism seeps in but since the book has been taken out of her lectures it is bound to happen. She also explains that a writer must have a philosophy, without proper philosophy and rationality and writer cannot write good non-fiction. Thus she justifies her philosophy that continously seeps into the book. I found no problem with her objectivism, because I kind of like Ayn Rand's philosophy and her book Atlas Shrugged had a deep impact on my way of life. I like people who hate being politically correct and those who hate being apologetic. She stood with her truth and with rationality and thus this book is closer to reality than other such books and very concrete rules and calls for action, i.e. telling you what to do and what not to do.

I admit that I stopped reading it after chapter 4 when I realized I wasn't learning anything. This book was created from transcripts from oral lectures. Maybe I would have gotten more from the lectures, but as a book, I found this to be tedious to read for little information. It seemed to make simple concepts very complicated. From all the other rave reviews, I wonder if I would have gotten more out of it if I had stuck with it though. What I did read was almost all about picking a topic and focusing it. There were some very useful ideas, but you have to slog through a lot to get at them.

If you can sift through all the politics there’s a lot of wisdom here. The audio narration is on point.

In this slim volume we have a fair presentation of Rand's personal advice to writing colleagues, as given in a series of 1969 meetings. She disposes of writers' block, self-doubt, self-censorship, and muddled thought as someone with long experience in facing these goblins. Of course her program is colored by the Objectivist philosophy, which is for her essential to independent thought. But the way she applies this to writers' problems is quite practical and probably cross-cultural. At times she shows hints of a "greed is good" ideology, which sounds slightly less prophetic these days. But then she plows ahead, delivering sound advice on writing style, organization, work habits, editing, selecting topics, or reviewing books, always telling the writer what is essential and what to ignore.

I have so many "stickies" on the pages of this book!! Rand takes the reader throught the steps of writing using straightforwardness in her approach. She goes right to the heart of the matter in every chapter, not holding back in telling the reader/writer what she "really" thinks. The book is based on a series of lectures the author gave to a select group. A great read!!! Good resource for any writer.

Ayn said that what one needs for nonfiction writing is what is needed for life in general: an orderly method of thinking. Writing, she said, is literally only the skill of putting down on paper a clear thought, in clear terms.

She discussed subject and theme, creating an outline, writing the draft, floating abstractions, editing, style, book reviews and introductions, writing a book, selecting a title, and acquiring ideas for writing.

She contrasted an active psycho-epistemology (i.e. method of thinking) with a conforming one. She discussed the only way to learn, the only way to be independent. She stressed independent thinking and principles.

Favorite Quotes:

Contrary to all schools of art and esthetics, writing is something one can learn. There is no mystery about it.

In literature, as in all the fine arts, complex premises must be set early in a person's mind, so that a beginning adult may not have enough time to set them and thus cannot learn to write. Even these premises can be learned, theoretically, but the person would have to acquire them on his own. So I am inclined to say that fiction writing — and the fine arts in general — cannot be taught. Much of the technical skill involved can be, but not the essence.

However, any person who can speak English grammatically can learn to write nonfiction. Nonfiction writing is not difficult, though it is a technical skill. Its only difficulty pertains to a person's method of thinking or psycho-epistemology. What you need for nonfiction writing is what you need for life in general: an orderly method of thinking. If you have problems in this regard, they will slow you down (in both realms). But writing is literally only the skill of putting down on paper a clear thought, in clear terms. Everything else, such as drama and "jazziness", is merely the trimmings.

I once said that the three most important elements of fiction are plot, plot, and plot. The equivalent in nonfiction is: clarity, clarity, and clarity.
— Chapter 01: Prelimenary Remarks, page 2 — Tags: interesting

How good you become depends on your premises and interests, and on how much time you devote to writing. But the skill can be learned. It is not mysterious and does not have to be torture.

Remember this point, particularly when you feel you will never write again or know what writing is. That sense of helplessness is inherent in struggling with a new thought. But any particular writing problem you might have is solvable (though, as in any introspection, it is not always easy to identify your problem). Writing is no more difficult a skill than any other, such as engineering. Like every human activity, it requires practice and knowledge. But there is nothing mystical to it.
— Chapter 01: Prelimenary Remarks, page 3 — Tags: interesting

... In the presence of a given event, work of art, person, etc., too many Objectivists ask themselves, "What do I have to feel?" instead of "What do I feel?" And if they need to judge a situation which I have not discussed before, their approach is, "What should I think?" instead of, "What do I think?" This is the childhood remnant of anyone who to some extent was influenced either by the religion of the culture or, later in college, by Platonism. Both give the impression that the good, the important, the philosophical are like church on Sunday: you use them on special occasions, but they have nothing to do with daily life. If any part of this attitude remains in you, it is important to eliminate it.
— Chapter 04: Applying Philosophy Without Preaching It, pages 29-30 — Tags: enlightening, interesting

There can be no compromise between a property owner and a burglar; offering the burglar a single teaspoon of one's silverware would not be a compromise, but a total surrender—the recognition of his right to one's property. What value or concession did the burglar offer in return? And once the principle of unilateral concessions is accepted as the base of a relationship by both parties, it is only a matter of time before the burglar would seize the rest. As an example of this process, observe the present [1962] foreign policy of the United States.

There can be no compromise between freedom and government controls; to accept "just a few controls" is to surrender the principle of inalienable individual rights and to substitute for it the principle of government's unlimited, arbitrary power, thus delivering oneself into gradual enslavement. As an example of this process, observe the present domestic policy of the United States.

There can be no compromise on basic principles or on fundamental issues. What would you regard as the "compromise" between life and death? Or between truth and falsehood? Or between reason and irrationality?
— Chapter 05: Creating an Outline, pages 50-51 — Tags: interesting

If you write something at all complex, you will experience the squirms [sudden-onset mental paralysis] of one form or another. The main reason for it is a subconscious contradiction.
— Chapter 06: Writing the Draft: The Primacy of the Subconscious, page 64 — Tags: interesting

Solving the squirms [sudden-onset mental paralysis during writing] is perhaps the most painful part of writing. You must stop writing when they occur, but continue to work on the problem. To the best of my knowledge of psycho-epistemology, there is no other way out. The worst thing to do is to think that since it is a subconscious problem, you can take a rest, read a book, go to the movies—and let your subconscious resolve the problem. It will not. If you take a break of that kind, you prolong your agony. And the longer you postpone the problem, the less chance you have of solving it.

The problem can be solved, but it must be done consciously. You must sit at your desk and think about it, even when you feel you do not know what to think. For an exercise in free will and will power, this is the hardest thing you can demand of yourself, but it is the only solution.
— Chapter 06: Writing the Draft: The Primacy of the Subconscious, page 66 — Tags: interesting, useful

The greatest danger in regard to control over your writing is to memorize your first draft. That sets it in your mind as the final expression of what you want to say. As a result, you lose the capacity to evaluate or edit it, which requires that you be able to take a fresh look at your material. That is why the earliest you should edit your work is the next morning; editing requires a switch to a conscious process, which is a different mental set.
— Chapter 06: Writing the Draft: The Primacy of the Subconscious, page 75 — Tags: interesting, useful

If I get up in the morning and know, for example, that I have a four o'clock appointment, I cannot write that day. It is as if my mind closes down and will not work. If I do try to work, I dawdle, look at the clock, and get dressed for the appointment earlier than necessary, realizing that trying to write is useless.
— Chapter 06: Writing the Draft: The Primacy of the Subconscious, page 82 — Tags: interesting, useful

Too many people today think: “I'm a creative genius, I'm above grammar.” But nobody who thinks or writes can be above grammar. It is like saying, “I'm a creative genius, I'm above concepts.”—which is the attitude of modern artists. If you are “above” grammar, you are “above” concepts; and if you are “above” concepts, then you are “above” thought. The fact is that then you are not above, but below, thought. Therefore, make a religion of grammar.
— Chapter 07: Editing, page 101 — Tags: enlightening, interesting, useful

I once heard of a politician who committed political suicide when he put up the following campaign billboard: “My opponent has had eight years at the public trough. Now give me a chance.”
— Chapter 07: Editing, page 103 — Tags: funny

Americans are trained (through the look-say approach to reading and the allied, Dewey-based ideas of education) to be emotional approximators. The nonobjective, ungrammatical way in which people express themselves today is truly frightening. What has been systematically undercut is their capacity for objective communication. Americans tend to express themselves guided by feelings, not by thoughts. According to modern theory, there are no such things as thoughts; and even if there were, they could not guide us.
— Chapter 07: Editing, page 99 — Tags: interesting

In regards to [writing] a book, however, the danger is the tendency to expand your presentation into an encyclopedia. I said [in chapter 2] that you must delimit your subject when you write an article, despite the temptation to digress. That danger is much greater in a book. Since a book permits more detailed statements of a subject than does an article, a beginner might get the idea that he has the space to say anything — which quickly becomes everything. This kind of expansion is particularly problematic when your theme is broad; the broader your theme, the greater the temptation to include increasingly more subdivisions. The fact that a book does permit a certain latitude — the fact that it is like a complex orchestration with a central theme, the development of which permits a great many sub-themes — can make your book spread into total shapelessness.
— Chapter 10: Writing a Book, page 159 — Tags: interesting, useful

Someone once said that a writer's most important tool is scissors, by which he meant that a writer should never be afraid to cut his own work when necessary. I have never sympathized with this attitude, because I hold this premise as such an absolute that I do not think one should boast about it. Courage is not required if your purpose is to write a good article or book, and some beautiful passage does not fit into the total context. In such a case, there is no choice involved: of course, you make the cut. Acquire that kind of ruthlessness. Make your central value the total job, not any particular passage.
— Chapter 10: Writing a Book, page 162 — Tags: interesting

The purpose of teaching is not only to communicate knowledge, but also to instill a rational psycho-epistemology in one's students. If you analyze what a good teacher is doing, and why his students get so much out of his class, you will find that he is communicating the material in a certain order, which, by implication, trains his class to absorb knowledge rationally.
— Chapter 10: Writing a Book, page 166 — Tags: interesting

The most brilliant inspiration for a title of mine is Frank's suggestion of Atlas Shrugged, which is almost a mystery to me. I do not know how he made the integration, but it is brilliant, because it names in two words the essence of the book. When I ask him how he came up with the title, he could not explain it. It was purely inspirational; titles usually occur that way.
— Chapter 11: Selecting a Title, p. 169 — Tags: interesting

This book is a collection of talks edited to supply Rand's thoughts on writing. There is some value, but the world isn't lost without it.

This is one of the most helpful guides to nonfiction writing I've read. It's better than the textbook in my editing and publishing Masters level course... If there's only one guide on nonfiction you read, it should be this one! It's useful for all sorts of nonfiction, though it mainly covers middle articles not how to articles or theoretical articles. That said, the info in the book is as applicable to writing autobiographical pieces such as my editing class required as it is to the sorts of articles I post to my blog. So nonfiction bloggers out there, if you're struggling with how to create quality content, give the book a read or a listen!

Not s bad book but is more a lecture for authors despite the fact it says it is for readers as well.