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Ask HN: How do you balance reading books vs. articles

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Re: Ask HN: How do you balance reading books vs. articles

#21

Post by iex_xei »

input_sh wrote: post #4

I use Pocket to postpone reading articles during the work week. I then go through the list over morning coffee on weekends on my e-reader. Once I removed that impulse to read articles immediately as I stumble upon them, I found out that I simply delete like 50-60% of collected links without consuming them. I read books either after work / later on weekends / before bed.

I do the same and yes, results are similar. I delete most of the material I marked after some time. It also prevents me to chase the breaking news. When I go over a list, usually the "breaking" value is already lost so I can skip them.

I also have a two or three layer setup. I star the material in rss reader, then if it looks ok after some time, I add to Pocket. I skim the article in Pocket and if it looks worthy enough, I favorite it and an IFTTT rule adds it to Instapaper. I read once more in Instapaper.

In my opinion, if you don't think you'll revisit an article, it's not worth reading even once.

Edit: typo

Re: Ask HN: How do you balance reading books vs. articles

#23

Post by input_sh »

voisin wrote: post #5
input_sh wrote: post #4

I use Pocket to postpone reading articles during the work week. I then go through the list over morning coffee on weekends on my e-reader. Once I removed that impulse to read articles immediately as I stumble upon them, I found out that I simply delete like 50-60% of collected links without consuming them. I read books either after work / later on weekends / before bed.

> I found out that I simply delete like 50-60% of collected links without consuming them. This is an interesting result! Why do you suppose this is?

Plenty of reasons, but among the top ones:

- They don't seem as interesting as they appeared to be at first. Example: https://www.wired.com/story/his-writing-radicalized-young-ha... (captivating title, but I find Doctorow's fiction mediocre at best)

- I open them, get their essence in the first few sentences, decide it's not worth the time compared to others in queue. Example: https://github.blog/2020-11-16-standing-up-for-developers-yo... (don't need to spend 8 min on that, I got the gist from the title)

- Context gets removed. I forget what made me save them, making my judgement on them more objective. Example: https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2016/03/how-seriously-rea... (I read like 2-5 papers a year front-to-back, I don't really need to know this)

Re: Ask HN: How do you balance reading books vs. articles

#24

Post by powersnail »

I dump articles into instapaper send them to my kindle when there's a pile of them. That's usually every week. Then, when I have some free time, waiting for my beef stew, for instance, I'll chip at them little by little.

Some really short ones --- a short news for instance, I just skim over them when I see them.

Some articles require more concentration, and I'll usually add them to my At-Desk to do list. When I'm at my desk, and has a chunk of free time, I'll pick one and read.

One thing is that over the week, some articles will have the same topic, with varying depth and quality. So by waiting a little bit, I can often read less words while still being informed.

But I probably spend much more time on books, mostly in mornings and evenings, because I prefer books in general. However, I read fictions most of the time. It's probably not what you have in mind, and it isn't really comparable to articles.

Re: Ask HN: How do you balance reading books vs. articles

#25

Post by karaterobot »

I read books in my bed before going to sleep, and I read articles on my computer during the day. So, there's a clear physical separation: different parts of the house, different times of the day, different media. They don't overlap, so they don't conflict.

Are you reading for pleasure, or for study?

If for study, you can save a lot of time by scanning the text, contents, and index for what's relevant to you, and only reading those parts (or at least reading them first). For articles you can usually just read the middle half, ignoring the introduction and conclusion.

If for pleasure, you're out of luck. You'll never read everything you'll want to read in one lifetime. You can maximize the value of your limited time by casting off any sense of obligation you may have to books you aren't getting value from. If a book isn't justifying itself after an hour, or 50 pages, or whatever, toss it out and find something else. Life is too short to slog through garbage.

Re: Ask HN: How do you balance reading books vs. articles

#26

Post by doc_gunthrop »

pontus wrote: post #15

My experience is that books come in two forms: ones that can be summarized by a blog post (e.g. any Malcolm Gladwell book) and those that contain content of irreducible complexity (e.g. history books or textbooks). I usually get bored with the first type of book because it just rehashes the same thing over and over again. So, when you choose book vs article, I think this distinction should be part of the thought proc…

It's not uncommon for those types of books (as you mentioned, for example, Malcolm Gladwell) to come into being as a result of a series of blog posts.

A couple examples are Cal Newport and Mark Manson. Their books aren't bad, but they could be reduced to probably 1/3 of their actual length without much loss of insight.

Re: Ask HN: How do you balance reading books vs. articles

#27

Post by gumby »

pontus wrote: post #15

My experience is that books come in two forms: ones that can be summarized by a blog post (e.g. any Malcolm Gladwell book) and those that contain content of irreducible complexity (e.g. history books or textbooks). I usually get bored with the first type of book because it just rehashes the same thing over and over again. So, when you choose book vs article, I think this distinction should be part of the thought proc…

Business books — even the insightful ones — are typically only 2-3 pages long (there a few, very few, exceptions). But that can’t sell at the airport so they are padded out like washing powder.

Re: Ask HN: How do you balance reading books vs. articles

#28

Post by gregmac »

pontus wrote: post #15

My experience is that books come in two forms: ones that can be summarized by a blog post (e.g. any Malcolm Gladwell book) and those that contain content of irreducible complexity (e.g. history books or textbooks). I usually get bored with the first type of book because it just rehashes the same thing over and over again. So, when you choose book vs article, I think this distinction should be part of the thought proc…

I've read too many of the first that lately it has killed most of my motivation to read any non-fiction books (the last couple I started, I just never finished because essentially I got bored). I enjoy reading (and still read fiction), and I want to have that motivation, but I just can't seem to muster it. This includes books that have good reviews, because apparently a lot of people don't seem to mind. It just seems like there's a lot of people writing books because it's "the thing to do" and probably makes more money than the couple blog posts or long article that would have been a better format.

Anyone else experience this, and how did you get past it?

Re: Ask HN: How do you balance reading books vs. articles

#29

Post by input_sh »

happyglands wrote: post #10
voisin wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I found out that I simply delete like 50-60% of collected links without consuming them. This is an interesting result! Why do you suppose this is?

I read an interesting article the other day. "I am always amazed by what happens: no matter how stringent I was in the original collecting, no matter how certain I was that this thing was worthwhile, I regularly eliminate 1/3 of my list before reading. The post that looked SO INTERESTING when compared to that one task I’d been procrastinating on, in retrospect isn’t even something I care about. What I’m essentially d…

Yup, I was also partially inspired by him when coming up with this approach. Definitely the only "productivity guru" who had a mild impact on my workflow.

Looking forward to him converting his Building a Second Brain course to a book, because no way in hell I'm paying a thousand bucks for a course.

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