How to books

I think the downside of a ‘How to’ book is that it leaves little room for the reader to think.

Instructions, once laid out, are there to follow or not.

I think there’s no great rumination or epiphanies with a step by step guide.

There’s no inviting the user to view the entire subject matter differently and fill in the gaps themselves.

There is simply a prescriptive list of how to achieve a certain goal and that’s it. After you know how to do it there’s no need for the book anymore and you can toss it.

But a book that describes a philosophy can be returned to regularly because it can’t outline instructions for everything.

Instead it’s trying to sell you on a way of life and it leaves the nitty gritty tactical everyday details for you to come up with.

It requires more thinking on the readers part and therefore it becomes more interesting.