David, I was surprised by the simple nature of this essay. When I say "simple," that's exactly what I mean. My question became, who doesn't know you have to make a point or even two.

So then I was surprised by all the answers from people who didn't seem to know that part about "making a point." This is because I taught college freshman English composition, and taught my students how to create a "thesis" (a point, if you will) in the very first paragraph - and make it very clear, simple to remember.

Then the rest of their paragraphs went about supporting that thesis/point. It usually took at least three solid supports to make that thesis/point perfectly clear. Muddiness or any rambling was highly discouraged. Then a concluding paragraph restated the thesis/POINT and wrapped it all up.

Are there REALLY a lot of writers who don't know about that 5-paragraph structure? I mean, that structure has been much maligned and called "corny" and "lazy" for teachers to present. But it still works even in PhD dissertations. Because yes, I was a writing tutor in a writing center, two different ones, and that was our go-to. And yes, I tutored PhD students who needed help too. Longer, more complex works get even murkier much more easily.

I'm not trying to be a Ms. Smarty-Pants. Oh no! And I defer to you use of humor and hand-drawn pictures that "make the point pointy!"

I did read Gian-Carlo Rota - lovely writing. Made me want to read about mathematics (which I'm terrible at).

One more note: to the person who said novels don't make a point. Yeah, they do - especially ones written within a certain genre: mystery novels must solve the mystery (the point); romance novels have two people you're trying to set the scene for them to actually, believably fall in love. That's it.