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Every book Michael Dean recommended on podcasts
Michael Dean appeared on the How I Write podcast to discuss the mechanics of essay structure, writing frameworks, and the habits of master authors. Throughout the interview, Dean referenced several seminal literary and historical works to illustrate fundamental composition principles. He compared David Foster Wallace's acclaimed essay Consider the Lobster with George Orwell's 1936 work Shooting an Elephant, using both pieces as prime examples of writers who successfully mastered fundamental design constraints and captured expansive ideas through carefully controlled microocosms. To explain the concept of narrowing down a massive scope when tackling a large writing project, Dean referenced Umberto Eco's guide How to Write a Thesis and its foundational scoping principles. When exploring the structural architecture of essays and universal patterns across creative disciplines, Dean pointed to Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language as the primary inspiration behind his own writing visualization frameworks. Additionally, Dean highlighted the famous writing practice of Hunter S. Thompson, who laboriously rewrote every single word of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby by hand to deeply understand the physical rhythm and mechanics of building a masterpiece. Through these examples, Dean demonstrated how studying classic literature and foundational writing manuals can help modern creators master the core constraints of compelling written communication.
Books recommended by Michael Dean
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Consider the Lobster
Consider the Lobster is a renowned collection of provocative and deeply analytical essays by David Foster Wallace.
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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Shooting an Elephant
Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell is a classic essay detailing the author's experiences as a police officer in Burma and the moral conflicts inherent in imperial rule.
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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A Pattern Language
A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein is a foundational architectural and design treatise that maps universal patterns across towns, buildings, and spaces.
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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How to Write a Thesis
How to Write a Thesis by Umberto Eco is a classic guide providing practical instructions and systematic methods for conducting academic research and composing scholarly papers.
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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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 | 12 |
Other mentions (5: passing, ad reads, own books)
“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, and one was slop, and it preferred the slop.”
“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...”