With a new semester underway, that means a new course, which means a new book to read. For ICM 506, On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser is that book.  Only a few chapters have been read thus far, but it seems to be very thought provoking.  While this book was originally published in 1976, with its last update in 2006, the art of writing has not changed.  Which is why it is still relevant today, with almost two decades since it has been revised.

This book is a little on the older side, but there are still many take aways and comparisons that can be drawn upon.  For example, in the introduction Zinsser mentions how the evolution of writing utensils has changed.  From typewriter to computer.  He explicitly states, “But nothing has replaced the writer.” (Zinsser viiii).  When I read this sentence, I had to pause and almost chuckle to myself.  And I’m sure you can guess why.

I would bet that never in a million years, let alone less than twenty years after that statement was written, would William Zinsser ever imagine that something could come along to effectively ‘replace’ the writer.  That is the world we are living in and how exponential the growth has been in such a short amount of time.

Artificial intelligence is a scary concept (see Our Future – September 29, 2024 in ICM 501 for more thoughts).  One of my favorite quotes about it is “I don’t want AI to write and create for me, so that I could have more time to cook and clean.  I want it to cook and clean for me, so I have more time to write and create.”  The fact that it has been designed to write and create instead is a real worry for society.