Robert Boynton was one of my favorite writing mentors, teaching me enough about writing to fill five blogs. All the journalists in the audience should check out his book, The New New Journalism--it's full of interviews with great writers. Then, check out Boynton's review of uber-reporter Gay Talese's new book at The Columbia Journalism Review.
Instead of panning the sprawling memoir, Boynton delivers a writing lesson that we should all heed in this dangerous age of hyper-productive writing.
Dig it...
"The dirty little secret of publishing is that most books — even from prestigious publishers and seasoned authors — are merely “product.” Not egregiously bad (which would at least make them interesting), but simply mediocre work written to fulfill an overdue contract for a once-promising idea."
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