Writing

via Assaf 🌴 (@assaf@mas.to): Throughout a single piece of writing you’ll face two different questions: What context does the reader already have? and, crucially, What context does the reader need? The gap between those two answers defines the piece.

Addy Osmani has distilled eighteen rules for clear writing into an open-source Agent Skill that can interview you, rewrite a draft, or simply critique one without touching your file. There’s also a private browser-based editor that flags AI writing tells, readability problems, and gaps in substance. The underlying essay stands on its own as good writing advice, whether or not you ever install the skill.

via Glenn Fleishman (@glennf@zeppelin.flights): Why pay for bad advice

Tim Ferriss opens his own BookScan numbers to argue that LLMs are eating the how-to nonfiction category alive: adult nonfiction down 9% year-over-year in Q1 2026, with self-help down 26.3%. It’s a rare, concrete look at AI disruption hitting an industry in real time rather than in forecasts — and a preview of what happens to any business built on packaging answers people can now just ask for.

via Martin Kleppmann: The latest @inkandswitch project I’ve been involved with is Upwelling: an exploration of what a text editor might look like if it had both Google-Docs-style real-time collaboration and something like Git-style pull requests.