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Ask HN: Books worth reading multiple times?

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Ask HN: Books worth reading multiple times?

#1
I've seen this advice in different tweets and podcast that goes like this:

"It's better to read one good book multiple times than multiple books once" or "I would rather read the best 100 books over and over again until I absorb them rather than read all the books."

However I fail to identify what books are worth reading over and over again.

So, what books did you read more than once and are worth keep reading?

Re: Ask HN: Books worth reading multiple times?

#2
Are movies or tv shows worth watching more than once? Music worth listening to more than once? … If somebody enjoys reading, revisiting a book can provide a way of spending time, remind the reader of what happened or reveal detail that was missed the first time.

Re: Ask HN: Books worth reading multiple times?

#5
post #4

FYI, the essay that proposes to read good books multiple times is from Rolf Dobelli: https://www.dobelli.com/en/essays/how-to-read-books/

> So, what books did you read more than once and are worth keep reading?

I reread most of the books that I enjoyed reading the first time. Reading is my hobby, I only read what I like reading. Likewise, if I don't like a book after reading the first 50 pages, I stop reading. The earlier I admit my mistake, the better.

Re: Ask HN: Books worth reading multiple times?

#9
What meals are worth eating again and again?

Depends on your taste. Sounds like you haven't found something that rings that bell for you.

Personally I've read "Slaughterhouse 5" by Kurt Vonnegut three times and each time in one sitting. Then again I've read "Fragment" from Warren Fahy 3 times too. Some people reread their holy book dozens of times. It's all very personal.

Re: Ask HN: Books worth reading multiple times?

#10
The classics, the most famous books of the last few thousand years, are a good bet. They've appealed to many generations. You have to read them to find out which ones speak to you.

For me, I'm constantly rereading the essays and non-fiction/philosophical writings of Hazlitt, Emerson, Chesterton, Stevenson, Santayana, William James, Collingwood. For 20+ years so far. Others, like Nietzsche, Wilde, Hilary Putnam, Dewey, I don't read so constantly but I've read some/most of their books over and over again. Wilde's Intentions, Putnam's Realism with a Human Face, Dewey's Art as Experience, for example, and almost everything of Nietzsche's, e.g. Human, All Too Human or Daybreak, I find endlessly rereadable. Chesterton, Nietzsche and Wilde are very funny too.

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