Why do I write books?
I found myself thinking about this after reading an article by Nathan Baschez
Nathan has helped build products including Product Hunt, Substack and Lex.
In the article, he talks about a “signature move”: something you’ve become especially good at doing.
His is taking a software idea from zero to one. Before focusing on what comes next, he decided to document what he had learned from doing that.
That made me wonder: what is my signature move?
I think it is learning a new skill when I need it.
Whenever I take on a project, I work out what I don’t yet know.
Then I find a way to learn it.
Over the past five years, writing online and publishing books have given me plenty of opportunities to do that.
But I don’t want to keep what I learn to myself.
I document the process, as a book, while it is still fresh in my mind.
What I tried, what worked, what confused me, and what I wish someone had explained at the beginning.
That is why I write books.
Each one captures a stage of my own journey in the hope that it makes someone else’s journey a little easier.
