Concrete
April 23rd, 2009 | Published in Process
This is the fourth post in a series I started on Monday about the book “Made to Stick” and how it affects my writing plans.
In the chapter “Concrete”, the authors make the point that people respond much better to examples than abstract theory. While I have tried to use examples where I can, I need to be relentless in my avoidance of the abstract. I had thought that so long as I avoided graphs, jargon, and mathematics, I was being concrete. Not so.
What I need to do is bring the reader into the picture. The economy is about real world things such as work. I need to use examples where people can visualize exactly what I am talking about.
I need to use examples that illustrate the abstract concepts instead of trying to explain the abstract concepts in plain language. While this seems obvious, it is amazingly difficult to do. I have spent years studying mathematics and economics. I am constantly tempted to fall back onto abstract concepts that I am comfortable with.
