Customer Reviews

Zen and the art of writing and The joy of writing: Two essays (Yes! Capra chapbook series ; no. 13)

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A very, very short book that manages to sum up most of what the other thirty thousand books on writing actually say. It isn't so much that there is always more to say, as that there is always another way to say it. And while some people can hear it best told in New Age imagery, some people can hear it best peppered with earthy wisecracks, and some people are going to take it in best described as an allegory of Zen Buddism.

Personal bias now enters. Ray Bradbury was one of the greatest writers of his generation. Almost everyone I know, including people who "never read science fiction," has read Ray Bradbury. I have a poet friend who won't even talk about sf with me, but admires Bradbury's poetry.

I think this is why his insights are so valuable. And also why he manages to phrase them so simply.