- People like reading lists.
- This phenomenon might be explained somewhere.
- I have never read any such explanation.
- I have a few ideas of my own:
- Nested lists keep things tidy.
- It’s easier to keep your place.
- Bullets are aesthetically pleasing.
- Lists are linear, evoking a garden path.
- Paragraphs are parallel-linear, evoking mowing a lawn.
- My ideas could be more or less valuable than yours.
- Value is the most relative of all concepts.
- It would not be hard to list some examples.
- I’ll leave that to your imagination.
- I was writing about why lists are better than paragraphs.
- Now I will continue.
- Lists can be numbered. For example:
- This list.
- Directions.
- Recipes.
- Rankings.
- One, two, three o’clock, four o’clock rock.
- There is no item 6.
- Lists can be numbered. For example:
- Where was I?
- Oh, yes: spouting praise for lists.
- Perhaps paragraphs aren’t such a good idea.
- What if every sentence was a list item?
- I think that would be bad for novels.
- (That reminds me, I should read a novel.)
- Have I made my point?
4 thoughts on “The allure of a list”
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1.) Yes.
Well I didn’t read your post because I hate lists, but I just wanted to say “what’s up.”
I like honesty, but I also like lists.
Lauren: that is incredibly funny!