Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years • Hacker News Board

Re: Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years

#11

Post by kartan » Sun, Nov 20, 2016, 2:21 PM UTC

Paul_S wrote: post #2

I decided to read a book a day this year. So far I'm ahead at 336 and here are my counter opinions. "* It’s much better to read the best book on the topic 5 times, than to read 5 different books on the topic once." Flat out no. Unless you're a freaking machine. Reading different books covering the same topic keeps me interested more. I don't mind the repetition then because I get the warm "I know that" feeling. "* Ey…

> "* It’s much better to read the best book on the topic 5 times, than to read 5 different books on the topic once."

I agree that it is expressed in a too strong way for me. I will probably say that it is better to read twice the best 5 books in a topic that to read 10 on that same topic. Variety helps, but repetition is also good for retaining ideas. And for me the "best" books are the ones that present that ideas more clearly. The value of re-reading probably depends on how good is your memory and varies for each individual. I like the combination of re-reading with reading more on the same topic to get knowledge.

Re: Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years

#12

Post by ianaphysicist » Sun, Nov 20, 2016, 2:31 PM UTC

The recommendation to take notes is helpful. I prefer to make my notes directly in the book. This has the added bonus of making a book's value much clearer to me when it comes time to cull.

Re: Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years

#13

Post by 300 » Sun, Nov 20, 2016, 2:32 PM UTC

kartan wrote: post #11

Paul_S wrote: post #2

I decided to read a book a day this year. So far I'm ahead at 336 and here are my counter opinions. "* It’s much better to read the best book on the topic 5 times, than to read 5 different books on the topic once." Flat out no. Unless you're a freaking machine. Reading different books covering the same topic keeps me interested more. I don't mind the repetition then because I get the warm "I know that" feeling. "* Ey…

> "* It’s much better to read the best book on the topic 5 times, than to read 5 different books on the topic once." I agree that it is expressed in a too strong way for me. I will probably say that it is better to read twice the best 5 books in a topic that to read 10 on that same topic. Variety helps, but repetition is also good for retaining ideas. And for me the "best" books are the ones that present that ideas m…

True. I should have explained it better, and say that I didn't mean it literally.

As you said, repetition is good to retain ideas. Also, I was able to get different ideas and insights from the same books, just based on my inner personal state, and my life circumstances at that point in time.

Re: Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years

#14

Post by 300 » Sun, Nov 20, 2016, 2:35 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #9

I'd like to see some research on how much redundant and unnecessary information is in typical books. I have the feeling that the essence of most books can be simplified to the size of, say, an average blog post. Can't we make reading a lot more efficient than it is right now?

I love your thought, and I tend to agree. There's way too much redundant and unnecessary information in typical books.

That's why I think is better to read the best books on the topic more times, than few other average books repeating the same stuff in different words.

Re: Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years

#15

Post by quinndupont » Sun, Nov 20, 2016, 2:39 PM UTC

This person is either reading the lightest self-help type of books, or not really "reading" these books. I'm an academic, and my only job is to read books (and articles, etc), and I do my job at least 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, and I don't even read this many books.

My advice for getting genuinely intelligent about a topic: read hard books, intensively, and leave the buffet-stats-counter stuff to those who just want to impress.

Re: Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years

#16

Post by the-dude » Sun, Nov 20, 2016, 2:41 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #9

I'd like to see some research on how much redundant and unnecessary information is in typical books. I have the feeling that the essence of most books can be simplified to the size of, say, an average blog post. Can't we make reading a lot more efficient than it is right now?

Like, you mean the extracts which are used by students and scholars? For Dutch books there are multiple community driven sites.

For English it must be crazy, but I am not aware of a single one.

Re: Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years

#17

Post by jzwinck » Sun, Nov 20, 2016, 2:41 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #9

I'd like to see some research on how much redundant and unnecessary information is in typical books. I have the feeling that the essence of most books can be simplified to the size of, say, an average blog post. Can't we make reading a lot more efficient than it is right now?

Somewhere around age 27 I wanted the same thing. I think the answer is no, for two reasons. First, we already have blogs and newspapers.

More importantly, the same material is interpretable in many ways. For example if you ask someone what is the main point of Orwell's 1984, you will usually hear something about surveillance. But to me, reading it as an adult, far more important is the idea that we need war as an outlet for our surpluses. That might be in the Cliffs Notes but it won't be in the first blog post on Google.

Re: Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years

#18

Post by 300 » Sun, Nov 20, 2016, 2:56 PM UTC

quinndupont wrote: post #15

This person is either reading the lightest self-help type of books, or not really "reading" these books. I'm an academic, and my only job is to read books (and articles, etc), and I do my job at least 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, and I don't even read this many books. My advice for getting genuinely intelligent about a topic: read hard books, intensively, and leave the buffet-stats-counter stuff to those who just w…

After reading ~10 different authors on self-help, you realize they're all saying the same thing. So no, your assumption is not true.

Yes, I did read a lot of light self-help books in the beginning, but their number in total is less than ~40.

It's totally not important how many books you read, but their quality, we agree about that :) That's why I mentioned it's better to read more times the same book, than more books on the same topic once.

Re: Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years

#19

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Nov 20, 2016, 3:07 PM UTC

300 wrote: post #14

amelius wrote: post #9

I'd like to see some research on how much redundant and unnecessary information is in typical books. I have the feeling that the essence of most books can be simplified to the size of, say, an average blog post. Can't we make reading a lot more efficient than it is right now?

I love your thought, and I tend to agree. There's way too much redundant and unnecessary information in typical books. That's why I think is better to read the best books on the topic more times, than few other average books repeating the same stuff in different words.

[deleted]

Re: Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years

#20

Post by steveeq1 » Sun, Nov 20, 2016, 3:08 PM UTC

webreac wrote: post #8

somberi wrote: post #6

May I ask how you get the time and how you are able to read a book under a day?

When I was student in french "classes preparatoires" (between 19 and 20yo), my binom was fond of books. He read between 2 and 3 books per day when most pupils had difficulties to cope with workload.

What does "binom" mean? Is that a typo? I tried looking it up online, but don't see anything.