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The trouble with 'big-picture' books: avoiding the curse of the generalist

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There is a genre of "big-picture" books, exploring grand themes of humanity. While some of these books are good, I find most books in the genre unsatisfying. In this note I examine what makes such a book difficult to write, and when they work well. I'm writing the note because for several decades I've had thoughts of writing such a book; something has, however, consistently troubled me about the aspiration. I wrote this note to help myself understand the problem and, insofar as one exists, a solution. Let me begin with three big-picture books that fall into an intermediate regime: I admire them, but they suffer from this problem. The books are: Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything"; Carl Sagan's "Cosmos"; and Yuval Noah Harari's "Sapiens". All three suffer from the curse of the generalist: on most particular topics they discuss, a specialist could write something superior. As a reader, you think: "Oh, I should switch to reading the specialists on this topic". This proble

Michael Nielsen July 4, 2024 There is a genre of "big-picture" books, exploring grand themes of humanity. While some of these books are good, I find most books in the genre unsatisfying. In this note I examine what makes such a book difficult to write, and when they work well. I'm writing the note because for several decades I've had thoughts of writing such a book; something has, however, consistently troubled me about the aspiration. I wrote this note to help myself understand the problem and, insofar as one exists, a solution. Let me begin with three big-picture books that fall into an…

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