This is my #1 gripe with non-fiction books. Way too wordy, too many anecdotes, just spit it out already.
Please value my time as the reader. I read a lot of books, but I feel like I’m allocating more mental energy skimming half the content than I am absorbing knowledge.
37signals/Basecamp had some illuminating things to say about their book experiences. They kept fighting with the publisher to make their book short, the appropriate length. The publisher kept wanting it to be double the length to seem more impressive on the shelf.
That mindset is to the detriment of books, just get to the point.