I was particularly grateful for the Carver poem, which I emailed to a friend going through a rough time immediately after you tweeted it. He just loved it, so thank you for that - I've read all Carver's prose, but hadn't read his poetry.
Couldn't agree with your list of 10 best novels, except for the first one, The Great Gatsby. But then judging writing is an admittedly subjective thing.
It was a fun experiment. And great to see you don't default on your bets (being politically and ethnically correct there). ;)
Steve Davis
· 9 months ago
I appreciated Mark Gould's interpretation of your 10 things you learned from teaching, but I think they're more explanation than a more powerful restatement. If you were writing a book, your 10 would be the chapter titles and the pithy way to remember the ideas; Mark's would be the third sentence of an explanatory paragraph (important sentences, no doubt!).
I guess that could be one of my ten things I learned about public speaking -- short, memorable statements are more powerful than the full, nuanced explanations that they imply. Or, more powerfully: Short statements are memorable.
Mark Gould
· 9 months ago
I am happy that my recasting of Andy's ten things was useful (at any level). As a former academic, I am always seeing parallels between things that I used to do and things that I do now. The primary purpose of my blog post was not to add value for anyone else, but to capture some thoughts that I had as the tweets came through for my own benefit. As you say, short statements are powerful, but that is because they are more easily moulded to fit our own preconceptions.
KristianT
· 9 months ago
First of all congratulations for settling your bet honourably - it was interesting to follow.
One thing I had hoped for, was that you had tried to venture a bit further towards twittering the "mundane" (and hence more personal) - just to see what that would have brought you. Twittering top tens was playing it very safe.
By the way - when you write: "...There are evidently a ton of poetry lovers out there, because I started to get a lot more followers immediately after Tim’s message went out."
I think you would find many (if not most) of these to be "Tim O’Reilly lovers" rather than poetry lovers.
BrattleSt Girl
· 9 months ago
I thought it was a grotesquely self-indulgent exercise. The lists were a cop-out and obviously prepared well in advance. Your twitterstream - and I say this as someone who has found your blog writing useful, seems to verge on the hermetically-sealed with a few self-satisfied HBS players toadying up for contacts and future references but with little (or no) real vibrant give and take or other intellectual exchange.
schoolgirl
· 9 months ago
I would have been curious to see what your stats looked liked before the day of 100 tweets.... I assume your "follow cost" just increased from negligible to meaningful. http://bit.ly/qWOB7
Aside from that - I largely agree with BrattleSt Girl: little to no real vibrant give and take, the lists were a cop-out.
Nigel Walsh
· 9 months ago
i liked the 10 things learnt from teaching... after that I tuned out - there was too much for me personally. But what about you - more how was it to write 100 tweets? is it sustainable - could you do it every day?
sengseng
· 9 months ago
looking over your list of poems, it's evident, to me at least, that you are not a supine consumer/lover of poetry and yet it's not something you tweet about very often (i can find at least one reference). i'm curious why...
immunity
· 9 months ago
Knowing you were going to flood my stream was a fair warning not to participate in twitter that day. As I previously mentioned, I don't really participate much on the weekends as much anymore to give those a break from my incessant ramblings. However, I still cannot be a bad Amy is or was. But on some days I can be just as bad. I don't think I have investigated what my daily record of tweets are, but I am sure some simple digging can come the answer.
I do however like the story that can unfold with a stream and that is why I have twistory set to my google calendar so I could go back to a certain day and see what I was talking about on that day.
But now that the bet and the aftermath are over. I am looking back at your stream that day for some good nuggets.
I appreciate the lessons learned on teaching. As a speaker, I think it also holds weight and maybe I can come up with a list of my own.
And as someone who wants to always look smarter, I appreciate the poetry list. As I gazed the list, my eyes glazed over. I am not familiar with your choices and now I will make a point to read them.
Bites85
· 9 months ago
Very nice read. This certainly gives me some knock on the door. I got to check my twitter profile. Thanks for sharing it.
All Comments
Couldn't agree with your list of 10 best novels, except for the first one, The Great Gatsby. But then judging writing is an admittedly subjective thing.
It was a fun experiment. And great to see you don't default on your bets (being politically and ethnically correct there). ;)
I guess that could be one of my ten things I learned about public speaking -- short, memorable statements are more powerful than the full, nuanced explanations that they imply. Or, more powerfully: Short statements are memorable.
One thing I had hoped for, was that you had tried to venture a bit further towards twittering the "mundane" (and hence more personal) - just to see what that would have brought you. Twittering top tens was playing it very safe.
By the way - when you write: "...There are evidently a ton of poetry lovers out there, because I started to get a lot more followers immediately after Tim’s message went out."
I think you would find many (if not most) of these to be "Tim O’Reilly lovers" rather than poetry lovers.
Aside from that - I largely agree with BrattleSt Girl: little to no real vibrant give and take, the lists were a cop-out.
I do however like the story that can unfold with a stream and that is why I have twistory set to my google calendar so I could go back to a certain day and see what I was talking about on that day.
But now that the bet and the aftermath are over. I am looking back at your stream that day for some good nuggets.
I appreciate the lessons learned on teaching. As a speaker, I think it also holds weight and maybe I can come up with a list of my own.
And as someone who wants to always look smarter, I appreciate the poetry list. As I gazed the list, my eyes glazed over. I am not familiar with your choices and now I will make a point to read them.