Person
Michael Dean's book recommendations
Michael Dean appears on the How I Write podcast to discuss the fundamental building blocks of writing, visual communication, and the structural integrity required to craft a compelling narrative. Throughout the conversation, Dean references several prominent authors and their respective works to illustrate key writing principles. He discusses F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, highlighting how Hunter S. Thompson famously rewrote the entire text word-for-word to understand what it feels like to author a great masterpiece, using this to emphasize the importance of studying the basics. Dean also analyzes David Foster Wallace's essay collection Consider the Lobster alongside George Orwell's classic essay Shooting an Elephant. He uses these works to explore how writers master fundamental design constraints, shape a concise microcosm to represent broader ideas, and effectively build conflict and experience. Additionally, Dean references Umberto Eco's How to Write a Thesis to explain the strategic necessity of narrowing a project's scope, which he terms the pick one volcano principle. By examining these diverse texts, Dean offers listeners a technical perspective on the mechanics of essay structure, scoping, and the deliberate study of literary foundations.
Books Michael Dean recommends
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A Pattern Language
Discussed“So, that's a book by Christopher Alexander in uh 1978. And basically it's him trying to map the universal patterns across all of architecture.”
Where to get it
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Consider the Lobster
Discussed“So you have uh consider the lobster, David Foster Wallace, 2003, and then uh shooting an elephant by George Orwell.”
Where to get it
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How to Write a Thesis
Discussed“So Alberto Ekko, he wrote a book called How to Write a Thesis. Uh and he has something called the pick one volcano principle.”
Where to get it
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Shooting an Elephant
Discussed“So you have uh consider the lobster, David Foster Wallace, 2003, and then uh shooting an elephant by George Orwell.”
Where to get it
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The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby by F.
Discussed“Hunter S. Thompson rewrote every single word of The Great Gatsby so I could feel what it was like to write a great novel.”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| You’ve Never Seen Writing Visualized Like This — Michael Dean | How I Write | 2025-04-09 | 10 |
Other mentions (6: passing, ad reads, own books)
“Jane Austin, love phonetics, pride and prejudice, sense and sensibility.”
“Jane Austin, love phonetics, pride and prejudice, sense and sensibility.”
“Another fun fact is uh Howard Ror the character in Ran's novel Fountain Head is based off of Franklin Wright.”
“Jane Austin, love phonetics, pride and prejudice, sense and sensibility.”
“Jane Austin, love phonetics, pride and prejudice, sense and sensibility.”
“There's a funny example where someone used AI to rewrite Paradise Lost, a classic, you know, epic poem, and then they had AI judge the two...”