How to Write Like Ozan Varol, Author of “Think Like A Rocket Scientist”
Ozan Varol is one of my favorite thinkers on thinking. And as someone with a tattoo of a Falcon 9 rocket on his forearm, I was particularly drawn to the title of his brand new book, Think Like A Rocket Scientist.
If you liked Smartcuts or are a fan of Farnam Street, you’ll LOVE Think Like A Rocket Scientist. The fun stories and clarity of writing makes this manual on thinking bigger and better a pleasure to read — and I dare say it’ll change your mind.
Without further ado, here’s how Ozan Varol writes:
What rituals do you have as a writer?
OV: I begin by reading.
And, by read, I don’t mean emails and Facebook status updates. I read terrific writing by authors who are better at their craft than I am. I consider this a form of mental stretching.
When I write immediately upon waking up (as I used to do), my work product would be too rigid. I like to fill my mind with good writing before I start putting words on paper.
I then get a cup of coffee, tune into the “focus” channel on brain.fm, and start writing.
What’s your writing toolkit?
OV: In writing Think Like a Rocket Scientist, I used a functionally limited Chromebook that I bought for the sole purpose of writing. That computer is off limits for emailing, researching, and other similarly distracting extracurricular activities.
I also sometimes write longhand in a notebook — particularly if I’m sketching out the initial contours of an idea.
What was your process for putting together THINK LIKE A ROCKET SCIENTIST?
OV: I wrote in the morning and edited later in the day. I find that I need to step away from what I wrote before I can edit it intelligently. After I had done my share of writing in the morning, I worked out and headed into a barrel sauna with only a notepad and a pen with me. Some of the best ideas occurred to me in the solitary, stifling environment of that sauna. As I sat there sweating profusely, I’d think through what I wrote in the morning and jot down notes.
I wrote each chapter of the book in Google Docs. I like its simplicity, and I love that multiple people can work on the same document. As I was writing, I would flag points where further research was necessary. My research assistant could then jump into the document and input his research results, without generating conflicts.
How did you use the principles of the book in your life while you were writing it?
OV: I applied Occam’s razor (a principle I discuss in the book) to my writing. At its core, Occam’s razor is a preference for simplicity, all things being equal.
Simple is sophisticated. Newton’s laws of motion, for example, are poetic in their simplicity. Take his third law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Centuries before the advent of human flight, this simple law explained how rockets reach space. The mass of their fuel goes down, and the rocket goes up.
The same principle apples to writing. During the entire editing process, I had Occam’s razor in hand. I constantly asked myself, “How can I convey this idea in a simpler way? How can I make this paragraph shorter? What else can I remove?”
As I write in the book, “To cut is to make whole. To subtract is to add. To constrain is to liberate.”
Who’s your favorite writer, and why?
OV: I love Susan Orlean’s ability to tell a captivating story.
I love Derek Sivers’s ability to write short pieces that pack a lot of punch.
And I love Adam Grant’s ability to make research accessible to the public.
What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever read in your life?
OV: Quiet by Susan Cain.
I first read Quiet 8 years ago. At the time, I was a baby law professor attending a conference where I was supposed to network with other professors. As an introvert, I found this shoulder-rubbing ritual exhausting. Every now and then during the conference, I would run up to my hotel room to recharge in solitude and read sections from Cain’s book.
The book made me realize that I wasn’t missing some “socialization” chip that came pre-installed in other humans. I realized that it was acceptable — even valuable — to prefer listening to speaking and deep conversations to small talk.
Beyond that, the book also planted a seed in me that took 8 years to blossom. Having read Cain’s book, I realized that academic writing may not be the end-all and be-all for me, and that someday I might want to write a book for general audiences. That seed started the journey that eventually blossomed into my new book, Think Like a Rocket Scientist.
What’s the first book you remember loving?
OV: I loved Catcher in the Rye in high school.
I recently picked it up again, and I’m having trouble getting through it. I keep rolling my eyes and setting it aside. Holden Caulfield sounds like a self-centered, whiny brat who’s magnificent at spotting flaws in all people — except himself.
This reminds me: Every time I return to a book or a poem, it’s a new person reading it. I pick up on subtleties that I missed the first time around. New ideas become more relevant (or less relevant) because of where I’m in life now.
What’s your best piece of advice for writers?
OV: It’s the silence between the notes that makes the music.
Hustle and creativity are antithetical to each other. Ideas explode into life during slack times, not during hard labor. You have to be intentional about creating moments of slack in your life, so you can spot the creative surprises when they flare up.
