In addition to this blog I also keep a blog that discussion matters of theology and Biblical studies (Digest of Worms) in which I copied and pasted several posts to a text analyzing program available online that tells you what famous author you write like. The answers varied by post and the names Dan Brown, Isaac Asimov and George Orwell came up. I have reach much of Isaac Asimov's work and some Orwell so it is conceivable that they have influenced my writing style. I have never read Dan Brown so I found it interesting that most of my posts were written in a style similar to his. Maybe Dan Brown reads Asimov and Orwell and we both acquired our style from them!
I recently started running some of my posts from this blog through the program and got different results (my style seems to have changed significantly since I did this with my other blog). Below is a list of the authors with some comments on my experience reading their work.
The posts on Khan Academy, my reflection on my language and culture class, Cultural Noise, teachers teaching their morality to students, my first post on The Class, the Ken Robinson speech, and discussing an H. G. Wells story:
The only Lovecraft I have read The Call of Cthulu and I found it somewhat disappointing. I enjoy authors that have been influenced by him more than the original like Mike Mignola's Hellboy series.
My post on what it means to be good at history, teacher anxiety, narcissism and leadership, the motivational value of grades, and working out:
Full disclosure: I have never heard of this man but the fact that I have five posts listed as similar to his style seems significant to me (that is 25% of my blog until this post). From looking him up on Wikipedia I have found out how out of touch I am with postmodern American literature.
My post on helicopter parenting:
I have only seen the movie Lolita and never actually read words written by Nabokov. I know just enough about him to understand Sting's reference to him in his "Don't Stand So Close to Me" but I appreciate the comparison given the amount of respect people have for this author.
My post on knowing both sides of an issue:
I actually read and saw the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. My only other experience with Clarke are with his smart and insightful quotes that people tend to share online such as "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Finally, my post on how I want my child to make friends:
This is another author I have never heard of but based on what I read about him on Wikipedia I think we would get along pretty well.
UPDATE:
This post was analyzed and the results are its style is similar to Cory Doctorow.
UPDATE 2:
I broke my thesis up by section, entered each section and here are the results:
Framing the Inquiry - H. P. Lovecraft
Abstract - Margaret Atwood (I heard of The Handmaiden's Tale and that is all I know of her)
Chapter 1 - Dan Brown
Chapter 2 - H. P. Lovecraft
Review of the Literature - H. P. Lovecraft
Chapter 3 - Arthur Clarke
Concluding Thoughts - H. P. Lovecraft
Lovecraft came up three times. I certainly hope none of my readers had any nightmares because of my chilling, terror-inducing thesis.
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