Brutkey

Matt Blaze
@mattblaze@federate.social

The late Tom Stoppard, in his play Hapgood, had some good advice for writers of scientific papers.

KERNER: I don’t understand this mania for surprises. If the author knows, it’s rude not to tell. In science this is understood: what is interesting is to know what is happening. When I write up an experiment I do not wish you to be surprised, it is not a joke. This is why a science paper is a beautiful thing: first, here is what we will find; now here is how we find it; here is the first puzzle, here is the answer, now we can move on. This is polite. We don’t save up all the puzzles to make a triumph for the author. Tom Stoppard. Hapgood (Act I, Scene 5). 1988.