Use of first person in a book

[Rainer Deyke]

Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> So I thought I'd ask a candid question in here. How do you feel about
> moderate use of the first person in a technical book? Do you find it
> comfortable, neutral, or cringeworthy?

Occasionally a technical author finds that a personal anecdote or
opinion is useful for illustrating a concept.  The author then has these
choices:
  1. Leave it out.
  2. Treat it as a universal fact.
  3. Anonymize it.
  4. Talk about himself in the third person.
  5. Use first person.

The first three options are clearly bad because information is lost.  I
prefer option 5 over option 4, but both are acceptable to me.


-- 
Rainer Deyke - rainerd at eldwood.com