Week 6 - Better Pencil Reading Post

Topic: Baron provides examples of “a better pencil.” What does he mean by the concept, and how might that impact style? Consider what your approach to your final course paper might be and how Baron’s ideas relate to it.


In reading the assigned chapters by Baron, I was a little confused. I am not sure exactly if Baron is pro technology or anti technology, a Luddite? I get the feeling from his writing that the whole “A Better Pencil” is about more than meets the eye. I sense a bit of sarcasm on Barons writings.
Baron notes “Books are technology…” are they? I guess we can argue that yes, books, printed and bound into a useful format are technology. Is that the extent? The end product of information in a useful, portable format. In a way a book is like the internet. While limited by the content of one book, it is a technology tool used to find information. The Web is also a tool, in a different format, used to find entertainment or information. Unfortunately, this may apply only to a reference book. What about a novel or entertainment in book form? Is that technology also? I do not think so. The book delivering the novel contents is the technology; the chapters and words inside are the entertainment.

Perhaps by better pencil Baron means that technology, including computers and the Web are the “better pencil.” We use both to document and retrieve ideas and information, just in a different format. Over history the pencil has been used to document information, it is retrieved when a person references or reads the written information back at a later time. I am not sure in reading Baron, that he feels style is impacted by tools other than the pencil. His point it seems is akin to the old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Even though we have tools like computers and networks such as the internet, the basics of writing style remain the same, as does the good old reliable number 2 pencil.